Trump-Putin To Hold Tuesday Call On 'Ending War In Ukraine, Dividing Certain Assets'

Both the US and Russian sides have confirmed that Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold another phone call on Tuesday. Trump previewed that he plans to continue discussions to end the war in Ukraine, and he cryptically referenced negotiators having already discussed "dividing up certain assets."

"I’ll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday. A lot of work’s been done over the weekend," Trump told reporters on Air Force One while en route back from Florida to Washington.

"We want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance," Trump said.

The US is still proposing a 30-day temporary ceasefire, which Putin has already questioned as a likely means by which Ukrainian forces can simply rearm, replenish, and regroup.

"We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants," Trump said when asked by a reporters about concessions. "I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We are already talking about that, dividing up certain assets."

Trump's special envoy who met with Putin in Moscow last week, Steve Witkoff, has said that the Russian president "accepts the philosophy" of Trump’s ceasefire. Still, the Kremlin has repeatedly said it will not accept anything that's a short-term solution.

Putin and Trump had an initial phone call spanning 90-minutes less than a month after Trump was inaugurated, to talk about moving toward a potential Ukraine peace plan. 

The Russian Defense Ministry has meanwhile indicated that Moscow will demand Kiev's neutral status and that NATO can never accept Ukraine for membership.

Trump confirming the next phone call with Putin, to take place Tuesday...

This appears to be Moscow's only and main 'security guarantee' that it wants in place: "Part of these guarantees should be the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of Nato countries to accept it into the alliance," Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said Sunday. Of course, this is to include a ban on NATO building up military infrastructure in Ukraine as well.

But other Western allies are challenging the progress made, and are likely even trying to sabotage any potential deal. "If Ukraine requests allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or reject them," French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

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Below are some developing geopolitical headlines via Newsquawk:

Geopolitics: Middle East

• US President Trump ordered the US military to launch ‘decisive and powerful’ military action against Houthis in Yemen and told Iran to end support for Houthis immediately, while the Pentagon said US strikes against Houthis will last days or weeks., Furthermore, it was later reported that the death toll from the US attacks on Yemen reached 53.
• US Defence Secretary Hegseth said the US campaign will be unrelenting, while he added that Iran has been enabling the Houthis far too long and they better back off.
• US Secretary of State Rubio commented that the US military campaign in Yemen will go on until the Houthis no longer have the capability to strike ships and said there is no way Houthis would have the ability to attack shipping unless they had support from Iran.
• US Secretary of State Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on Saturday and told him about US operations against Houthis, while Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force against Yemen Houthis and said it is important for all parties to engage in political dialogue in order to find a solution that avoids further bloodshed, according to Reuters.
• Yemen’s Houthis said naval operations will continue until the Gaza blockade is lifted and aid is let in, while the group said it targeted a US aircraft carrier with ballistic missiles and drones in the Red Sea but showed no proof, according to Reuters.
• Iranian Revolutionary Guards top commander Salami said Tehran will respond decisively and destructively to any enemy taking threats into action and noted that Yemen’s Houthis take strategic and operational decisions on their own, according to state media.
• Israeli air strike killed nine in Gaza amid ceasefire disputes. It was separately reported that the Israeli PM’s office said Israel will continue Gaza ceasefire talks in accordance with the US proposal for the immediate release of 11 living hostages and half of the dead. Furthermore, an Israeli delegation was in Egypt discussing hostages with senior Egyptian officials and PM Netanyahu moved to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet security service, according to the PM’s office cited by Reuters.
• Syria’s military fired rockets and shells at Lebanon on Sunday after accusing Iran-backed Hezbollah of executing three Syrian army personnel, according to Bloomberg.

Geopolitics: Ukraine

• Ukrainian President Zelensky said Ukraine’s partners must define a clear position on security guarantees and the path to peace must begin unconditionally, while he added there must be a foreign troop contingent based on Ukraine soil as part of a peacekeeping arrangement and the question of territory is complex and should be discussed later.
• Russian Defence Ministry said Russia will demand Kyiv's neutral status and NATO's refusal to accept Ukraine in a peace treaty on Ukraine, while Russia opposes any troops in Ukraine as part of post-conflict guarantees, not just NATO troops. Furthermore, it was stated that the issue of unarmed observers as part of post-conflict international support for Ukraine may be discussed only once a peace treaty is worked out.
• US President Trump said he will be speaking with Russia's President Putin on Tuesday and may have something to announce on Ukraine-Russia talks by Tuesday. Trump added that land and power plants are the focus of talks toward a Russia-Ukraine deal and they are already talking about "dividing up certain assets" between the two sides.
• US President Trump said it feels like Russia is going to make a deal with them and stated that they had pretty good news coming out of Russia. Trump also announced that General Kellogg was appointed as Special Envoy to Ukraine and will no longer be an envoy to Russia.
• US envoy Witkoff said differences between Ukraine and Russia have narrowed and they had positive discussions with Russian President Putin, while Witkoff said he expects Trump and Putin to speak this week and that US negotiating teams will meet with Ukrainians this week and will also meet with Russians.
• UK PM Starmer said following a meeting with world leaders that they reaffirmed commitment to Ukraine’s long-term security and agreed that Ukraine must be able to defend itself and deter future Russian aggression, while they agreed military planners would convene again in the UK this week to progress practical plans for how militaries can support Ukraine’s future security. Furthermore, Starmer said they will accelerate military support, tighten sanctions on Russia’s revenues and will continue to explore all lawful routes to ensure that Russia pays for the damage it has done to Ukraine, as well as commented that Putin’s response to the ceasefire proposal is not good enough.
• Russia launched an air attack on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv and the Russian Defence Ministry said its forces retook control of two settlements in Russia’s Kursk region.
• Ukrainian drone attack targeted energy facilities in Russia's Astrakhan region and sparked a fire, according to the regional governor.

Geopolitics: Other

• Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry said Armenian forces opened fire on Azeri positions on Sunday, while Armenia’s Defence Ministry said the statement by Azerbaijan does not correspond to reality.
• North Korea said its nuclear forces will 'exist forever' and criticised G7 states for nuclear hegemony, while it will steadily update and strengthen its nuclear armed forces and said demand by G7 for North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons is a provocation. It was also reported that North Korea condemned the US deployment of additional stealth fighter jets to Japan, according to KCNA.