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Donald Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine would begin peace negotiations “immediately”, even though in separate comments Vladimir Putin did not spell out any substantive change in the Kremlin’s stance.

After a two hour call between the US and Russian presidents, Trump posted that “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War”.

In comments that indicated that Washington may be stepping back from any role as a broker between the warring parties, Trump said the Vatican would be “very interested” in hosting the talks, adding: “Let the process begin!”

Putin’s readout of the conversation with the US president was much more tentative. The Russian president said he was “ready to work” with Kyiv on a memorandum to frame future talks, which could include a possible ceasefire “for a certain amount of time”.

Putin told a state media reporter that the conversation with Trump had been “very candid and therefore very useful”. But he did not announce any major shifts in Russia’s position on the war in Ukraine. 

“We agreed with the US president that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum about the possible future peace agreement,” Putin said. 

Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a separate phone call earlier in the day.

The comments from the Russian president come a week after he refused to attend peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey, leading Trump to say that “nothing is going to happen” until he and the Russian president met.

Trump had indicated his willingness to meet Putin for the talks in Turkey.

On Monday, the Russian president said the memorandum would include “the principles on which a peace agreement would be based, the timing of a possible peace agreement” and “a possible ceasefire for a certain amount of time, if certain agreements are reached”.

However, Putin added that Russia’s main objective was “to eliminate the root causes of this crisis”, in language that signalled his key demands remain unchanged.

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have accelerated in recent weeks, with Russia and Ukraine holding direct talks in Istanbul on Friday, their first since the start of the three-year war.

Trump vowed to end the war on day one of his second term but peace has proven elusive, with both sides still far apart.

In European capitals, leaders fear that Trump could cut a deal with Putin that accedes to his maximalist demands and sells out Ukraine’s interests in his haste to end the fighting.

Donald Trump has issued a White House invitation to Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff who as Cardinal Robert Prevost previously criticised Trump’s administration.

The invitation came via a letter from the US president and the first lady, Melania Trump, that was delivered to the new pope by the US vice-president, JD Vance, during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday morning.

A video of the start of the meeting shared by the Vatican also showed Vance and his wife giving the pontiff a Chicago Bears jersey with Leo’s name on it.

“As you can probably imagine, the US people are extremely excited about you,” said Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019.

In return, Leo gave Vance a bronze sculpture with words in Italian meaning “peace is a fragile flower”.

The pope spoke to Vance privately before they were joined by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio. The Vatican did not reveal what was discussed.

Before being elected pope earlier this month, Prevost criticised Trump’s administration in several posts on his X account, mainly targeting the government over its hardline policies on immigration.

In February he also shared on X an opinion article published in the National Catholic Reporter titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” after comments that Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, made in an interview on Fox News.

After meeting Leo, Vance spoke with officials from the Vatican’s secretary of state. Those talks were “cordial”, the Vatican said, adding that there was “an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved”.

The meetings at the Vatican took place hours before Trump was due to speak by phone with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.

Vance, Rubio and their wives were in Rome to attend a mass on Sunday marking the official start of Leo’s papacy.

The Vatican has not confirmed or denied whether the previous social media posts were authentic, although the X account has been deleted. Trump and Vance also clashed with the late Pope Francis over immigration.

Christopher White, the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and author of the forthcoming book Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy, said: “Vance certainly knows where the pope stands on the Trump administration’s position on migration, and so I think it was probably important for both sides to use the meeting today as a reset [in relations].

“But they’re obviously worlds apart on migration, and so today was really more about Ukraine and finding a solution. Before becoming pope, Leo was much more direct than Francis ever was because he characterised the war as an imperialistic aggression on the part of Russia.”

White said that while Trump would seek to capitalise on Leo’s papacy, it was unlikely the pontiff would make visiting the US a priority. “He will be quite shrewd,” White added. “I think it’s fair to say that we can expect him to visit Peru, his adopted country, before he visits his homeland.”