Kyiv, Ukraine - US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the "bloodbath" in Ukraine, a day after the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years.
Trump, who has been pressing Russia to agree on a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, said he would speak with Putin by phone on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the state TASS news agency the call was "being prepared".
Earlier Saturday, the Kremlin had said that a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement.
That came a day after direct talks between the two countries led to an agreement for another exchange of prisoners. Early Saturday, a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying evacuated civilians in Ukraine's eastern Sumy region killed nine people and wounded five, local authorities said.
Zelensky, denouncing the attack and Russia's refusal to agree on a ceasefire so far, repeated his call for fresh sanctions against Moscow. "Without stronger sanctions, without stronger pressure on Russia, there will be no real diplomacy there," he insisted.
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