NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Rutte shared details of a phone call between Putin and President Trump on Monday,

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone call with US counterpart Donald Trump to meet Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky within two weeks.

The Ukrainian leader's visit to the White House in February ended in a heated argument. Monday's meeting with President Trump was less fraught.

But, given the pushback he got from the Kremlin, Trump did not have room to promise much more. Last week, after his summit with Putin in Alaska, he had already set aside his main source of leverage over the Russians—the threat of sanctions and tariffs that could weaken Putin’s economy. “We don’t have to think about that right now,” Trump remarked.

President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday during a summit with European leaders.