U.S. President Donald Trump made major moves to end the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to peace talks that would begin “immediately.” The actions came after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said America was no longer “primarily focused on the security of Europe,” and that the idea that Ukraine would not have to cede territory to Russia in order to end the conflict is not realistic.
In “a lengthy and highly productive phone call” with Putin, the two “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately,” Trump said in a social media post, adding that the process began by informing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the conversation. He also suggested that he and Putin agreed to visit “each other’s nations.”
Trump said he instructed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, “to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful.”
After a subsequent call with Zelensky, Trump said the Ukrainian leader told him that “like President Putin [he] wants to make PEACE.”
Trump added that the Ukrainian president would discuss that topic on Friday in Munich, “where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!”
For his part, Zelensky seemed pragmatic.
“I had a long and detailed conversation with President Trump,” Zelensky said on X. “I appreciate his genuine interest in our shared opportunities and how we can bring about real peace together. We discussed many aspects — diplomatic, military, and economic — and President Trump informed me about what Putin told him. We believe that America’s strength, together with Ukraine and all our partners, is enough to push Russia to peace.”
Later in the Oval Office, Trump echoed Hegseth’s assertion earlier in the day that it would be unlikely for Kyiv to take back all the land it lost since Russia first invaded in 2014.
“It would certainly seem unlikely,” Trump said, adding that Russia “took a lot of land” and “lost a lot of soldiers…I’m not making an opinion on it but I read a lot on it and a lot of people think that’s unlikely.”
Trump also denied he was freezing Zelensky out of the negotiating process.
In addition, the U.S. president intimated that his Ukrainian counterpart should strongly consider making peace now.
The president discussed his administration’s effort to end the war, CNN reported, citing an interview with Fox News that aired Monday, ahead of the Vance-Zelensky meeting.
“They (Ukraine) may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” Trump said, stressing that he wants a return on billions provided to Ukraine. He also repeated his suggestion that Kyiv trade the U.S. rare earth minerals.
As we noted previously, before Trump weighed in, Hegseth commented on Ukraine’s goal to reclaim all the territory seized by Russia since 2014.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” said Hegseth ahead of his first meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. “Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering. A durable peace for Ukraine must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again.”
Ukraine’s joining NATO is also unrealistic, Hegseth declared, adding that any future security arrangement will not involve U.S. troops on the ground.
Meanwhile, Hegseth suggested that the U.S. will now focus far more heavily on its needs over Europe’s.
The U.S., he avowed, “faces consequential threats to our homeland. We are focusing on the security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. is prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific, recognizing the reality of scarcity, and making the resourcing trade-offs to ensure deterrence does not fail. Deterrence cannot fail for all of our states as the United States prioritizes its attention to these threats. European allies must lead from the front.”
Trump’s major official push into the Russia-Ukraine diplomatic process comes as European leaders are discussing the future of this conflict and ways to support Ukraine going forward. Regardless of what they decide, it seems the Trump administration is now set on rapidly building momentum toward a negotiated end of the conflict.
The Latest
On the battlefield, intense fighting continues to rage in both Russia and Ukraine, as both sides are working to grab as much land as possible ahead of any peace deal.
Here are the latest takeaways from the Institute for the Study of War assessment.
- Kursk: There were no confirmed advances by either side.
- Kharkiv: Russian forces continued offensive operations in the Kharkiv direction on Feb. 11 but did not make any confirmed advances.
- Luhansk: Russian forces continued offensive operations in the Kharkiv direction on Feb. 11 but did not make any confirmed advances. However, they did gain ground toward Borova and Lyman.
- Donetsk: Russian forces advanced toward Kurahkove, Pokrovsk and Velyka Novosilka but gained no ground in continued offensive operations in the Chasiv Yar direction on Feb. 11. Meanwhile, Ukrainian and Russian forces each recently advanced in battles near Toretsk.
- Zaporizhzhia: Russian forces recently advanced in eastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
- Kherson: Neither side gained any ground.
Before Trump announced his looming negotiations with Putin, his administration offered up “plans to push European allies to buy more American weapons for Ukraine ahead of potential peace talks with Moscow,” Reuters reported, citing “two people with knowledge of the matter. The move “could improve Kyiv’s negotiating position,” the outlet suggested.
If formalized, the plan “will offer some reassurance to Ukrainian leaders who have worried that President Donald Trump might block further aid to the country,” Reuters noted.
While Hegseth was meeting with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, NATO defense ministers met at Ramstein Air Base in Germany to discuss the future of support for Kyiv. One of the topics was the need for additional air defenses, something that was noted by NATO Military Committee Chair Giuseppe Cavo Dragone.
“We are doing everything possible—but we need to do a bit more and a bit faster,” he explained.
Last week, Zelensky gave Dragone a tour of what appears to be an underground weapons production facility. There, he showed off the domestically produced Peklo missile drone.
“I am grateful to Giuseppe Cavo Dragone for his first foreign visit in this position, to Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “I thank the people working on our long-range weapons for the real result, which helps us a lot, which the Russians are very afraid of, and which our NATO partners see.”
In an interview with the Guardian, Zelensky said that he would be willing to swap the territory his forces captured in Kursk for Russian-occupied land in Ukraine.
“We will swap one territory for another,” he told the publication, adding that he did not know which part of Russian-occupied land Ukraine would ask for in return. “I don’t know, we will see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority,” he said.
Last week, Zelensky said the Kursk invasion prevented Russian forces from carrying out large-scale operations in northeastern and southern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin downplayed a land swap.
Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the topic of the exchange of its territories, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing, according to the official Russian TASS news outlet.
“It is impossible. Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the topic of exchanging its territory,” Peskov noted, adding that Russian troops will retake Kursk.
“Certainly, Ukrainian formations will be driven out of this territory. They will be eliminated and booted out,” he posited.
Zelensky addressed several other topics during his Guardian interview, including a Russian attempt to kill him that caused the death of people in his office, the potential for a Russian invasion of Poland and Lithuania, Trump’s willingness to host a face-to-face meeting at the White House, and a mutual interest in collaborating with American businesses to develop, extract, and process mineral resources.
Earlier this week, Zelensky suggested that top U.S. officials would be visiting Ukraine.
“Today it is important to focus on the practical work of the teams of Ukraine and the United States, on the common vision of the main things,” he said during an interview. “Of course, there may be different opinions, but (there should be) a common vision of the main things – how to stop Putin and how to give security guarantees to Ukraine. This week there will be some serious people from the President Trump team in Ukraine, even before the Munich Conference. Then there will be a Munich conference, I will have a number of meetings there, in particular with the U.S. Vice President.”
Despite U.S. pressure, Zelensky has refused to draft those under 25 years of age. However, Ukraine is trying a new approach to meet its desperate need for additional troops.
“Starting Tuesday, Kyiv is now enticing young people to join the army with lucrative military contracts, offering a million hryvnias (about €23,000), social benefits and elite training for volunteers who sign up before they turn 25,” Politico reported on Wednesday. “But this decision has angered some Ukrainian soldiers who voluntarily joined the army and are still serving despite no prospect of demobilization in sight — while not getting the same benefits as those offered to the youngsters.”
Ukraine “devalues all those who voluntarily joined the army at the beginning of a full-scale war,” Masi Nayyem, a Ukrainian serviceman and prominent lawyer, said in a Facebook post.
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced legislation to create a lend-lease program to continue arming Ukraine. The concept is based on the program that provided the former Soviet Union with weapons, vehicles and other materiel to help defend against the Nazi invasion.
“Grateful to introduce the FREEDOM FIRST LEND-LEASE ACT as HR 1158,” he stated on X. “War Criminal Putin understands only the language of force. We must give President Trump the authority to MASSIVELY & QUICKLY arm Ukraine with war-winning weapons to get Russia to the table. Peace through Strength!”
Latvia will supply Ukraine with 42 Patria 6×6 armored personnel carriers this year, most of which will be newly manufactured, the Latvian Defense Ministry (MoD) announced on Monday. Developed by the Finnish defense firm Patria, but produced in Latvia, these vehicles are used for troop transport, command and control, medical evacuation, and reconnaissance, Ukraine’s United 24 media outlet stated.
At least one person was killed and four were wounded in Kyiv by an overnight Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile attack on the capital city and elsewhere, officials said on Wednesday.
In addition to the casualties, the attack “resulted in damage to residential buildings, an office building, and non-residential infrastructure in the Holosiivskyi, Svyatoshynskyi, Obolonskyi, Dniprovskyi, and Pecherskyi districts,” Timur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv Military District, stated on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram that six Iskander-Ms were launched from the Bryansk region of Russia and one from Crimea.
“The enemy also attacked with 123 Shahed attack UAVs and other types of simulator drones,” the Air Force also claimed, adding that six Iskanders and 40 “enemy drone simulators,” meaning decoys, were intercepted.
“As a result of the enemy attack, the Kyiv region, Dnipropetrovsk region (Kryvyi Rih), Sumy region, Poltava region, and Chernihiv region suffered,” according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Russia is using a new “adjustable” munition, called “Soloist,” in Ukraine, according to the official IZ news agency.
“In general, we can say that the ‘Soloist’ is a one-time adjustable infantry munition with first-person control and the possibility of attacking targets (primarily armored vehicles) from above,” IZ reported. “Moreover, the operator can work from the shelter, being quite far from the target. And the range of 10 km exceeds the existing anti-tank missile systems and approaches the 120-mm mortars.”
In addition, “as a combat load, the Soloist can use regular ammunition from RPG-7 and LNG-9 grenade launchers – the most common in the Russian army, and possibly in the world.” IZ noted. The weapons can use high-explosive, shrapnel or thermobaric warheads.
“It is important to note that the ‘Soloist’ is still not a UAV, namely, an adjustable munition,” IZ explained. “Being induced, it is not controlled as a drone, but adjusted on its trajectory. But at the same time, it has a greater speed” and is able to overcome enemy electronic warfare systems “continuing to move on its trajectory even with loss of control.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry (MoD) released a video showing its German-donated Skynex air defense system unleashing volleys from its 35mm main gun.
Made by Rheinmetall, the Skynex system comprises a 35mm anti-aircraft turret firing AHEAD ammunition based on an HX 6×6 truck chassis and integrated with an X-TAR3D acquisition radar and the Skymaster battle management system.
Germany has so far provided two Skynex systems plus ammunition to Ukraine.
Video emerged on social media showing the U.S.-supplied VAMPIRE anti-drone system knocking down a Russian drone. The complete VAMPIRE system, for which L3Harris is the prime contractor, consists of three main components. These are a turreted four-round LAND-LGR4 70mm launcher loaded with laser-guided Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets, a sensor turret (typically seen in the marketing literature mounted on an extendable mast to give it a better line-of-sight), and a fire control system. VAMPIRE is also designed to be readily integrated onto any suitably sized vehicle. You can read more about the core system in this past War Zone story.
Last week, the Ukrainian Air Force released what appears to be the first footage of a strike using what is likely a US-supplied JDAM-ER glide bomb in the 1,000 lb. bomb (Mk 83 payload) class. The attack reportedly targeted an underground Russian command post in the town of Selydove, Donetsk Oblast. The larger 1,000 lb. JDAM-ER has just began showing up in videos and images, with the 500-lb version being common prior to recent days.
That’s it for now.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com