Putin's Victory Day ceasefire offer in call with Trump
A look back at the phone call in which the Russian president proposed a pause in fighting around 9 May, set against the positions each side held in peace talks.
What did Vladimir Putin put on the table when he spoke to Donald Trump on 29 April 2026? During a phone call with the U.S. president, the Russian president offered a ceasefire for Victory Day on 9 May.
The offer came as part of the continuing peace negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian war, which have gone through several rounds of talks since Russia's invasion in February 2022. Those talks followed the Minsk agreements of the earlier War in Donbas (2014–2022).
The positions behind the offer
The proposal was a pause tied to a single date, and the two sides' stated aims for ending the war remained far apart. Putin seeks recognition of all occupied land as Russian, the handing over of regions Russia claims but does not fully occupy, guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO, curtailment of Ukraine's military, and the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks a ceasefire, a full withdrawal of Russian troops, the return of prisoners and kidnapped Ukrainian children, prosecution of Russian leaders for war crimes, and security guarantees to prevent further Russian aggression.
The call placed a ceasefire, one of Kyiv's stated aims, in the form of a short, date-specific offer from Moscow, made in a conversation with Washington.
