US President Donald Trump has announced he and Vladimir Putin have agreed to start negotiations “immediately” to end the war in Ukraine.

The US leader said his phone call with the Russian president was “lengthy and highly productive” in a post on the platform Truth Social.

Mr Trump wrote: “I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects.

“We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together.

“But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON SENSE’. We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations.”

Mr Trump said both leaders agreed to have their teams start negotiations “immediately”. He said the US will begin by calling Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to inform him of the conversation. The leader of the US said that was something he will be doing “right now”.

He went on to name the people he has put in charge of the negotiations, adding he believed they will “be successful”. He said: “I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful.

“Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost!”

Mr Trump ended his message by thanking Putin for “his time and effort with respect to this call” as well as for the release of Marc Fogel, a US schoolteacher who was arrested in August 2021 by Russian authorities.

As the US president shared details about his call with Putin, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian President had invited Mr Trump to visit Moscow.

Mr Peskov said the presidents discussed the conflict in Ukraine and agreed it could be resolved via peace talks.

He said the two leader had discussed issues related to the exchange of Russian and US citizens, adding Mr Trump had given assurances the US would fulfill all agreements reached.

Putin and Mr Trump discussed the Middle East settlement and bilateral relations between their two countries. The Russian leader gave his “support” for his US counterpart’s call “to work together”, according to Mr Peskov.

During his election campaign, Mr Trump boasted that he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours and said that Russia would not have widened its war on Ukraine had he been president at the time.

Mr Trump’s announcement of talks comes as US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said allies should abandon the “illusory goal” of a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders and prepare for a negotiated settlement with Russia.

Mr Hegseth said this should be backed up with an international force which won’t include US troops.