United States President Donald Trump announced plans to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, along with trade issues, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

In a social media post on Saturday, Trump stated that he intends to speak with Putin on Monday morning about stopping the "bloodbath" that has been claiming over five-thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers' lives each week, as well as trade matters.

He also revealed plans to hold a separate call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), emphasizing that a ceasefire will take place and that the "war that should have never happened" will come to an end.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed preparations for the Trump-Putin call to a state-run Russian news agency, which comes after Putin's rejection of a Trump-proposed ceasefire deal in March.

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine recently concluded high-level negotiations in Istanbul – the first of their kind since the war began three years ago – without significant progress.

With Trump introducing trade issues as potential leverage in the ceasefire talks, speculation is mounting that he will urge Putin to engage in direct discussions with Zelenskyy.