Donald Trump has said he will speak to Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as military chiefs prepare to discuss peacekeeping plans in London.
The planned phone call, announced by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, was highlighted as Mr Putin continues to resist a US-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
The Kremlin confirmed on Monday that Mr Putin would talk to Mr Trump by phone on Tuesday.
Asked about the planned call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Yes, that’s how it is. Such a conversation is planned for Tuesday.”
Mr Trump said a lot of work had been done on the related issues over the weekend and he thought Washington had a very good chance of bringing the Ukraine war to an end.
Although Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accepted the proposed unconditional ceasefire, the Russian president has said Ukraine must agree to give up its ambitions of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and cede territory to Russia before any pause in hostilities.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has accused the Russian president of stalling over a peace deal with Ukraine.
Mr Harris questioned whether Mr Putin wanted peace or was “dragging” out negotiations by calling for further conditions while continuing its attacks on Ukraine.
Speaking in New York, Mr Harris said that no-one wanted peace more than Mr Zelenskiy.
Mr Harris said Ireland and the rest of Europe was focused on reaching a peace deal. “We can’t forget at any time that there’s only one aggressor in relation to this war,” Mr Harris said.
“The people of Ukraine were living peacefully in their sovereign country when Vladimir Putin took the decision to brutally and illegally invade a sovereign territory on the continent of Europe.”
He said the European Union has a “very active interest” in ensuring a lasting peace, and that the bloc had to be involved in negotiating an end to the war, along with Ukraine itself.
Aggression could not be rewarded, Mr Harris added, stressing that Mr Trump could speak to whoever he wanted, in reference to Tuesday’s expected phone call.
“But I hope what happens after that conversation is that we can really move the focus back onto answering the question – does Vladimir Putin want peace?
“Because for all the talk of peace, all that we’ve actually seen from Putin in recent days is continued attacks on civilians, on civilian infrastructure, on Ukraine, on the people of Ukraine.”
Also on Monday, British prime minister Keir Starmer accused Mr Putin of seeking to “delay” a ceasefire, while French president Emmanuel Macron said the Russian president “does not seem to be sincerely seeking peace”.
On Sunday, Mr Witkoff had insisted that Mr Putin was making “a constructive effort” and that the upcoming call with Mr Trump showed there was “positive momentum”.
While flying from Florida to Washington on Air Force One on Sunday evening, Mr Trump told reporters the aim of his conversation with Mr Putin will be to bring the conflict “to an end”.
He said: “We will see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday. I will be speaking to president Putin on Tuesday.
“A lot of work’s been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end.”
Mr Trump said “dividing up certain assets” will form part of the conversation about bringing the war to a close.
“We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” he said.
Meanwhile, military chiefs from the “coalition of the willing” convened by Mr Starmer and Mr Macron will meet in London on Thursday to discuss plans for a western peacekeeping force to be deployed to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
Following a virtual meeting on Saturday with the leaders of 26 other nations, plus representatives of the EU and Nato, Mr Starmer said there had been “new commitments” offered, and that planning would now move into an “operational phase”.
But it remains unclear which nations have committed troops to a peacekeeping operation, while several have suggested such talks are premature given the lack of a ceasefire.
Mr Putin is also likely to object to any agreement that involves European or Nato troops being stationed in Ukraine, although Mr Zelenskiy sees such a step as essential to deterring future Russian aggression.
Meanwhile, the fighting continues, with Ukraine said to be under increasing pressure in the eastern Donetsk region, part of which has been under Russian control since 2014.
Ukrainian troops are also reported to be in retreat in the Kursk region of Russia, which they seized in a surprise raid in August in an attempt to secure a bargaining chip for future negotiations. - Agencies
