WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
"We are fighting for our sovereignty, for our independence. And we will definitely win this war. As for what to do next - without us, it is impossible to end this war with a just peace," Zelensky said ahead of the conversation.
United States President Donald Trump will hold a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at 10 a.m. Eastern Time (3 p.m. Central European Time) today, a White House official confirmed.
Trump's conversation with the Ukrainian leader, with whom he has a complicated relationship, comes after a roughly two-hour call the US president held with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss steps to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The topics and reactions to today's call are listed chronologically below:
21:21 From a heated Oval Office standoff to a "positive" phone call
When it comes to the world of diplomacy, a lot can change in just a few weeks, and today we saw Presidents Trump and Zelensky take a more positive tone after a phone call that lasted nearly an hour.
Although there was no media present during the call, the calm tone and diplomatic undertone of their statements stood in stark contrast to the howling we saw in the Oval Office last month. During that meeting, Trump accused Zelensky of being disrespectful to the United States and of "gambling on World War III." Things got so bad that the White House asked Zelensky and his team to leave the room. Today, Trump said the call was "very good" and that "we're absolutely on the right track."
Zelensky described the conversation as "positive, very substantive and sincere." Seemingly optimistic, he sincerely praised Trump's "concept of peace through strength."
After the standoff in Washington, U.S. and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine supported the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, although Putin said he would accept it only with a long list of conditions.
20:48 State Department: Next talks at technical level, without top U.S. officials
The next round of talks on Ukraine will be at a technical level and will not include top U.S. officials, the State Department said.
That contradicts what special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News yesterday.
Witkoff said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Walz would travel to Jeddah for meetings on Sunday.
That, however, was not planned, according to official statements.
State Department spokeswoman Tami Bruce said today that the talks would be conducted by "technical teams."
“There will be no chief negotiators at these talks,” she said at the briefing, adding that “a senior team will be responsible for the technical framework.”
Earlier, Volz said he had spoken with his Russian counterpart today and that a meeting between the US and Russian teams would be held in Riyadh “in the coming days.”
20:12 Rubio and Volz: Trump agrees to help Zelensky find Patriot missile systems
Zelensky asked Trump for additional Patriot missile systems, and Trump told him he would help him find available systems “particularly in Europe,” according to a statement on the call between the two leaders – Homeland Security Secretary Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Volz.
The statement also noted that the two leaders “agreed to share information between their respective defense departments,” and White House spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt, who first read the statement at a press conference today, told reporters that the defense intelligence sharing would be shared between the U.S. and Ukraine.
Trump also “discussed Ukraine’s power supply and nuclear power plants,” the statement said, and suggested U.S. ownership.
“He said the United States could be very useful in running these plants with its experience in power and utilities. U.S. ownership of these plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” the statement said.
Trump “fully briefed” Zelensky on his phone call with Russian President Putin on Tuesday, and the statement said the countries agreed to what it called a “partial ceasefire in the energy sector.”
“Technical teams will meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss extending the ceasefire to the Black Sea, with the goal of achieving a complete ceasefire. They agreed that this could be the first step toward a complete end to the war and ensuring security. President Zelensky was grateful for the President’s leadership in this effort and reiterated his willingness to adopt a complete ceasefire,” said Volz and Rubio.
Trump and Zelensky also discussed Ukrainian air defenses, prisoners of war and children abducted by Russia, a source told CNN, adding that the call was "not just a reminder of yesterday's conversation" with Putin. The phone call was longer than initially expected, the source said.
"President Trump asked a lot of questions, including which (air defense systems) are best, what can actually work and how to help," the source added.
19:06 White House spokeswoman dodges question about minerals deal
When asked about the minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, which was a major topic of discussion between the two countries a few weeks ago, White House spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt did not directly answer, referring instead to a previous statement by Rubio and Voltz.
However, she said the US had now "stepped beyond" that agreement and was now more focused on peace talks.
Levitt was also asked about the part of the Kremlin statement after the Putin-Trump call that suggested the U.S. and Russian hockey teams could play an NHL-KHL game against each other.
"That topic was mentioned," she replied. "However, we are more interested in a peace agreement than in scheduling hockey games."
For now, Levitt is mostly sticking to the White House statement on the Trump-Putin call, giving brief answers on the subject.
19:00 US seeks available air defense systems for Ukraine
White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt read the official statement on the phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The most important detail of the statement is that Zelensky asked Trump for additional air defense systems, specifically Patriot systems, to protect civilians. Trump agreed to work with him to find available systems, especially in Europe.
Other key points of the conversation included Trump fully briefing Zelensky on his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders agreed on a partial ceasefire related to energy targets, while further technical talks will focus on extending the ceasefire to the Black Sea, with the aim of achieving a complete cessation of hostilities.
They also discussed the situation in the Kursk region and agreed to exchange information between military headquarters. Trump suggested that US management of Ukrainian power and nuclear facilities could be useful for their protection.
Zelensky thanked Trump for his support, especially for the delivery of Javelin missile systems, noting that Trump was the first US president to provide them to Ukraine. He also expressed gratitude for Trump’s efforts to resolve humanitarian issues, including the exchange of prisoners of war, noting that they had just had a successful exchange.
Trump also raised the issue of missing and abducted children from Ukraine, promising to work with both sides to bring them home.
Technical teams from the United States and Ukraine are set to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to coordinate further steps toward ending the war. The presidents stressed the importance of the work of their advisors and representatives, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Voltz, and Special Envoy Keith Kellogg.
Trump and Zelensky agreed that their teams should expedite the resolution of technical issues related to the implementation and expansion of the partial ceasefire, and to continue cooperation towards lasting peace and security guarantees.
18:33 Zelensky: I had a positive, very substantive and frank conversation with Trump
I had a positive, very substantive and frank conversation with the President of the United States of America Donald Trump @POTUS. I thanked him for the good and productive start of the work of the Ukrainian and American teams in Jeddah on March 11 — this meeting significantly helped to advance progress toward ending the war. We agreed that Ukraine and the United States should continue to work together to achieve a genuine end to the war and a lasting peace. We believe that, together with America, with President Trump and under American leadership, a lasting peace can be achieved this year.
President Trump shared the details of his conversation with Putin and the key topics on the agenda. One of the first steps towards a complete end to the war could be to stop attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure. I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed its readiness to implement it. Our teams discussed this step in Jeddah. The American side also proposed an unconditional ceasefire on the front line, and Ukraine accepted this proposal as well. We will continue to work to implement this. We believe that such steps are necessary to create the conditions for the preparation of a comprehensive peace agreement during the ceasefire.
