On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “stop shooting” and reach a peace agreement, just one day after meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican. Trump, who had previously claimed he could end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine within a day, has been pushing for a diplomatic solution to end the conflict since taking office, although his efforts have yet to produce results.
In response to a question about what he wanted from Putin, Trump said, “Well, I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal.” Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at Morristown Airport before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington, Trump added, “I believe we have the outlines of a deal, and I want him to sign it.” He appeared to be referring to a U.S.-backed peace proposal aimed at ending the more-than-three-year-long war in Ukraine.
Trump had met with Zelensky at the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome the previous day. Their conversation marked their first face-to-face interaction since a tense meeting at the White House in February. After their brief exchange at St. Peter’s Basilica, Trump expressed skepticism about Putin’s willingness to end the war, which has devastated much of eastern Ukraine and caused tens of thousands of deaths.
Trump also remarked that he believed Zelensky might be open to ceding Crimea—the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized in 2014—as part of a peace deal. “Oh, I think so,” Trump said when asked if he thought Zelensky was ready to “give up” the region.
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has claimed to have annexed four eastern and southern Ukrainian territories, though it does not have full military control over them.