After Putin call, Trump says Russia-Ukraine talks to begin ‘immediately’

US President Donald Trump said his call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday went very well. (File/AFP)
US President Donald Trump said his call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday went very well. (File/AFP)
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Updated 19 May 2025

After Putin call, Trump says Russia-Ukraine talks to begin ‘immediately’

US President Donald Trump said his call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday went very well. (File/AFP)
  • Under pressure from Trump, delegates from the warring countries met last week in Istanbul for the first time since 2022
  • “Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said his call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday went very well and that Moscow and Kyiv would immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire and end to the war.
Under pressure from Trump, delegates from the warring countries met last week in Istanbul for the first time since 2022, though they failed to agree to a truce. Kyiv says it is ready for a ceasefire now; Moscow says conditions must be met first.
“Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post following his call with Putin, which lasted two hours.
Trump said he held a joint call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as the leaders of the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and Finland following his call with Putin. Trump informed those leaders that negotiations would start immediately, he said.
Trump floated the idea of newly installed Pope Leo as host for the talks, saying: “The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations.”
Trump said that the “tone and spirit of the conversation (with Putin) were excellent,” and that Russia wants to do “largescale” trade with the US once the war is over.
He said that Ukraine would also benefit from trade “in the process of rebuilding its country.” 


Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt

Updated 17 sec ago

Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt

Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt
“There was an error in his take-off,” Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters.
More than 170 people were injured in the crash, many badly burned

DHAKA: Pilot error was to blame when a fighter jet smashed into a Bangladesh school in July, killing 36 people in the country’s worst aviation crash in decades, the government said on Wednesday.
Pupils had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the private Milestone School and College in Dhaka on July 21.
The government announced the findings of a committee report into the crash after it was submitted to the interim leader, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
“There was an error in his take-off,” Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters.
More than 170 people were injured in the crash, many badly burned.
The military had initially said that the 27-year-old pilot was on a routine training mission when the jet “reportedly encountered a mechanical failure.”
He tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but crashed into the two-story school building.
The crash sparked anger and demands that the air force shift its training programs from the densely populated capital.
The air force had initially rejected those demands, saying a base in the capital was important for strategic reasons.
However, Alam said the report recommended that the air force “conduct its training outside Dhaka.”
It also advised that the Civil Aviation Authority ensure “infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, warehouses, and small industries are not built near airports.”