President Trump Says Negotiations To End Ukraine War To Begin After 'Productive' Call With Vladimir Putin

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he had a "lengthy and highly productive phone call" with Russian President Vladimir Putin that included ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump said they also discussed the Middle East, energy, Artificial Intelligence, the U.S. dollar and various other subjects.

"We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together," Trump posted on Truth Social.

"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now."

He says he has asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations.

"I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House."

During the campaign, Trump claimed he could end the war in a day.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that it would be "unrealistic" to believe that Ukraine can return to its pre-2014 borders.

Hegseth made the statement at a defense summit in Brussels.

Hegseth said that a "realistic assessment of the battlefield" needs to be considered ahead of talks to end the war with Russia.

Originally published in International Business Times