The White House and Kremlin did not offer any immediate details about the substance of the conversation, but both confirmed on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEDT) that the call had ended.
Trump said before the call that he expected to discuss with Putin land and power plants that have been seized during the three-year war.
Ukrainian officials last week agreed to the American proposal during talks in Saudi Arabia led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, remains sceptical that Putin is ready for peace as Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine.
The engagement is just the latest turn in dramatically shifting US-Russia relations as Trump made quickly ending the conflict a top priority — even at the expense of straining ties with longtime American allies who want Putin to pay a price for the invasion.
“It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
“What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace. And I think we’ll be able to do it.”
In preparation for the Trump-Putin call, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff met last week with Putin in Moscow to discuss the proposal.
Rubio had persuaded senior Ukrainian officials during talks in Saudi Arabia to agree to the ceasefire framework.
Putin last week said he agreed in principle with the US proposal, but emphasized that Russia would seek guarantees that Ukraine would not use a break in hostilities to rearm and continue mobilization.
The Russian president has also demanded that Ukraine renounce joining NATO military alliance, sharply cut its army, and protect Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.
The US president said Washington and Moscow have already begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as part of a deal to end the conflict.
Ukraine holds first football tournament for war-wounded amputees
Trump, who during his campaign pledged to end the war quickly, has at moments boasted of his relationship with Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s unprovoked invasion, all while accusing Zelenskyy of unnecessarily prolonging the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.
Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Trump and Putin would discuss the war in Ukraine but added that there are also a “large number of questions” regarding normalising US-Russia relations.
Zelenskyy in his nightly video address on Monday made clear he remains doubtful that Putin is ready for peace.
“Now, almost a week later, it’s clear to everyone in the world — even to those who refused to acknowledge the truth for the past three years — that it is Putin who continues to drag out this war,” Zelenskyy said.
In his dealings with Zelenskyy and Putin, Trump has frequently focused on who has the leverage. Putin has “the cards” and Zelenskyy does not, Trump has said repeatedly.
