Several months of intensified U.S. and European pressure on the two sides to accept a ceasefire and negotiate a settlement have yielded little progress.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said after a two-hour call with Vladimir Putin that peace talks would begin “immediately” after his Russian counterpart refused to attend negotiations May 15 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

President Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations. Trump spoke Monday after separate calls with the leaders of both countries meant to spur progress toward ending the three-year war.

Putin said efforts to end the war were "generally on the right track" and that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a potential peace deal.

Ukrainian troops struggle with exhaustion but pledge to fight ‘until we break the Russians’ belief that we can be defeated’

Turkey’s foreign minister is set to travel to Russia on Monday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, following direct talks earlier this month in Istanbul between the two sides in conflict.

Russia is still refusing to sign up to an unconditional comprehensive ceasefire. It has no intention of returning any of the Ukrainian land it has seized, occupied and claims to have annexed. On the contrary: it's pushing for more.

The first direct Ukraine-Russia talks did not deliver a ceasefire but it did result in the largest prisoner swap of the war. CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — For hours Friday, a crowd of hopefuls stood on the roadside wrapped in blue-and-yellow flags and clutching photos of captured Ukrainian soldiers — their eyes peeled for any sign of buses.