President Donald Trump is hoping that separate phone calls Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make progress toward a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine .
Trump expressed his hopes for a "productive day" Monday - and a ceasefire - in a social media post over the weekend. His effort will also include calls to NATO leaders.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the upcoming conversation would be "important, given the talks that took place in Istanbul" last week between Russian and Ukrainian officials, the first such negotiations since March 2022.
Trump has struggled to end a war that began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, and that makes these conversations a serious test of his reputation as a dealmaker after having claimed he would quickly settle the conflict once he was back in the White House, if not even before he took office.
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