President Trump says he spoke with Putin about ending war in Ukraine

(ABC News)— President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, which started three years ago when Putin’s forces launched a full-scale invasion.

Trump also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his call with Putin.

The conversations occurred as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered the fullest view yet of the administration’s approach to the conflict, one Trump had claimed during the campaign he could end on the first day of his new administration.

Hegseth told foreign leaders and allies during a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting that a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders is an “unrealistic objective” in peace talks, as was NATO membership for Ukraine.

“Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” Hegseth said.

Zelenskyy has long demanded full territorial liberation and earlier this week signaled a willingness to swap territory with Russia, giving up land Kyiv has held in Russia’s Kursk region — a suggestion Russia resoundingly rejected.

Trump echoed some of Hegseth’s comments as he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, saying it seems “unlikely” Ukraine would see its borders return to pre-2014 (when Russia annexed Crimea) though he believed “some of it would come back.”

Asked whether he would support Zelenskyy ceding territory or exchanging territory in any agreement to end the war, Trump responded, “Well he’s going to have to do what he has to do but, you know, his poll numbers aren’t particularly great, to put it mildly.”

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