United States President Donald Trump held back-to-back phone conversations Wednesday with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, as his administration zeroes in on what it argues is a roadmap to end the war in Ukraine.
Negotiations to end the conflict – one of Trump’s key campaign pledges – are set to begin “immediately”, the US president said in between the calls.
Meanwhile, Trump’s secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, provided the most detailed outline to date of the administration’s position on key issues in the war, from Ukraine’s NATO aspirations to its territorial goals.
Here’s a breakdown of the US’s new approach to the conflict:
How did Trump’s call with Putin go?
Trump said the 1.5-hour call was “highly productive” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin shared his goal to end the war.
“As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social account. “President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON SENSE.’ We both believe very strongly in it.”
Trump later said he and Putin plan to meet face to face, likely in Saudi Arabia “in the not-too-distant future”.
Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said the Trump-Putin call inspired hope for many Russians. “They see that Trump is actively trying to keep his promise to put an end to the war in Ukraine,” said Shapovalova. “But still, there is a long way to go before any turning points in relations.”
How did Trump’s call with Zelenskyy go?
That conversation also went “very well”, according to Trump, who added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to “make peace”.
Recapping the call, Zelenskyy said he and Trump had a “very substantive” discussion on economic and military issues, including Ukraine’s use of drones. He also said Trump updated him on his earlier call with Putin.
“We are defining our joint steps with America to stop Russian aggression and guarantee a reliable, lasting peace,” said Zelenskyy. “As President Trump said, ‘let’s get it done.’”
However, Trump later threw water on some of Zelenskyy’s main war objectives, telling the press that Ukraine is unlikely to win back all the territory Russia has seized from it or join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Are there more details on Trump’s vision to end the war?
Yes, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a deeper overview while meeting with Ukraine’s military allies in Brussels. He covered the administration’s views on Ukraine’s future borders and defence assurances.
Hegseth argued that Trump’s position was based on a clear-eyed view of the front lines, where Russia has largely been gaining ground. The US, he made clear, was shifting its focus towards its homeland and the Asia Pacific region, which meant scaling back in Europe.
“We will only end this devastating war – and establish a durable peace – by coupling allied strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield,” Hegseth told fellow members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of 57 countries militarily backing Ukraine, on Wednesday.
Will Ukraine join NATO?
According to the US, no. Hegseth stated bluntly that the US “does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement”.
Even Zelenskyy seemed to acknowledge that joining the defence bloc may be off the table, proposing a “Plan B” for Ukraine’s defence in an interview with The Economist. If Ukraine does not become a NATO member, Zelenskyy told the publication, it must amass an army of equal size to Russia.
“For all this, we need weapons and money. And we will ask the US for this,” Zelenskyy said.
However, Sweden’s Minister for Defence Pal Jonson said on Thursday that NATO should still be open to Ukraine in the future if it meets its conditions.
What about reclaiming territory?
It depends. While Ukraine may be able to restore some of its territory through negotiations, it should not expect to go back to its pre-2014 borders, when Russia annexed the eastern peninsula of Crimea, Trump told reporters later on Wednesday.
Russia “took a lot of land, and they fought for that land and they lost a lot of soldiers”, said Trump.
Hegseth, outlining this perspective in Brussels earlier, said chasing the “illusory goal” of reclaiming pre-2014 Ukraine “will only prolong the war and cause more suffering”.
This marks a sharp contrast to the previous US administration under Joe Biden, which provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine and pledged to support the country “as long as it takes” to fight off Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, who had long ruled out ceding any territory to Russia, appears to have quietly adapted to the shifting US stance.
In November, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to “bring Crimea back diplomatically” – potentially hinting at accepting de facto Russian control over the territory, though not officially. Zelenskyy has also recently proposed to “swap land” with Russia, with Ukrainian forces currently holding parts of Russia’s western Kursk region.
The Kremlin, however, has rejected such a swap as “impossible”.
What will Ukraine’s security guarantees be?
Whatever they are, they will not include US troops on the ground, said Hegseth.
Instead, he stated, Ukraine’s security should be safeguarded by “capable European and non-European troops”.
If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers, he added, they should not be affiliated with NATO.
Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera this “effectively rules out … credible security guarantees” from either the US or NATO.
Hegseth also called on NATO allies to take on more of the financial defence burden, including bumping their defence spending from 2 percent to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
“Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine,” said Hegseth.
What’s next?
The next big event to watch out for is the Munich Security Conference, starting Friday, where the war in Ukraine is expected to top the agenda.
Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian officials will meet with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the event.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Russia, who will also be in attendance, noted: “When we come back from Munich, we want to deliver to the president the options, so when he does get [directly] involved in the peace process, he knows what it will look like for him.”
The flurry of diplomatic action – and pronouncements from US, Russian and Ukrainian leaders – likely mean “a process of finding a solution for a temporary ceasefire or a pause of active warfare” in Ukraine is under way, Mariia Zolkina, the head of regional security and conflict studies at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, told Al Jazeera.
However, Giles suggested that the likelihood of any truce holding is doubtful. Promises of peace “achieved through rewarding an aggressor, are worth little when held against Russia’s ongoing preparations for further war”, he said.
