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(LONDON) — President Donald Trump held a high-stakes phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, as the White House continues its push for an end to Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine after last week’s peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey.

Trump over the weekend said the focus of Monday’s conversation would be on stopping the “bloodbath” on both sides. He said he would also be speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and various members of NATO.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Monday morning’s briefing the public can expect to hear from President Trump or the White House following the calls.

Putin, speaking to journalists in Sochi, said the “conversation took place and lasted for more than two hours.”

The Russian leader claimed that he is willing to work on a “memorandum on a possible future peace agreement” with Ukraine, but did not elaborate on what that would look like.

“The question is, of course, that the Russian and Ukrainian sides show their maximum desire for peace and find the compromises that would suit all parties,” Putin added.

ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Leavitt if Trump would set a new deadline for peace talks during his conversation with Putin, but Leavitt said she wouldn’t get ahead of Trump on any specific timeline.

“His goal is to see a ceasefire and to see this conflict come to an end, and he’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” she said.

Leavitt also said she believed Trump “would certainly be open” to meeting with Putin but “let’s see how this call goes today.”

Renewed direct contact with Putin — the last publicly known direct phone call between the two presidents took place in February — comes after Trump’s hopes for peace talks progress in Istanbul were scuppered, Putin having declined to attend despite Zelenskyy’s invitation to do so.

The Istanbul talks were the first known meeting between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv since spring 2022, when the Turkish city hosted the final round of unsuccessful peace negotiations to end Russia’s unfolding invasion.

Once it became clear Putin would not attend, Trump told reporters of the peace effort, “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, okay?”

“And obviously he wasn’t going to go,” Trump added. “He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we’re going to have to get it solved, because too many people are dying.”

On Monday, Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. is “more than open to walking away” from negotiations.

“We realize there’s a bit of an impasse here,” Vance told reporters, “and I think the president’s going to say to President Putin, ‘Look, are you serious? Are you real about this? Because the proposal from the United States has always been, look, there are a lot of economic benefits to thawing relations between Russia and the rest of the world, but you’re not going to get those benefits you keep on killing a lot of it is lot of innocent people.’”

Trump’s repeated threats of further sanctions on Russia have so far failed to precipitate any notable shift in Moscow’s war goals — which, according to public statements by officials, still include Ukraine’s ceding of four regions — which Russian forces do not fully control — plus Crimea, as well as a permanent block on Kyiv’s accession to NATO.

Putin said Sunday that any peace deal with Ukraine should “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis” and “guarantee Russia’s security.”

Kyiv and its European backers are still pushing for a full 30-day ceasefire, during which time they say peace negotiations can take place. Moscow has thus far refused to support the proposal, suggesting that all Western military aid to Ukraine would have to stop as part of any ceasefire.

Contacts between U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials continued after the end of the talks in Istanbul. On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio welcomed a prisoner exchange agreement reached during the Istanbul meeting and emphasized Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday wrote on X that the Istanbul meeting highlighted a “stark difference” between Moscow and Kyiv. “Ukraine is forward-looking, focused on the full and immediate ceasefire to kickstart the real peace process.”

“To the contrary, Russia is completely focused on the past, rejecting the ceasefire and instead talking constantly about the 2022 Istanbul meetings, attempting to make the same absurd demands as three years ago,” the foreign minister said.

“This is yet another reason why pressure on Russia must be increased,” Sybiha added. “Moscow must now understand the consequences of impeding the peace process.”

Meanwhile, long-range strikes by both sides continued. On Sunday night into Monday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 112 drones into the country, 76 of which were shot down or jammed. Damage was reported in five regions of Ukraine, the air force said in a post to Telegram.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday morning that its forces had downed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, William Gretsky and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — It’s crunch time in the House, where the next 48 hours will test Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership like never before as he scrambles to secure the needed votes to pass a megabill aimed at advancing President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.

After Sunday night’s successful vote to send the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to the House Rules Committee, there are now two full intervening days for Johnson to put the final touches on the reconciliation bill and rally Republican support. And the pressure is on.

Johnson doesn’t have the votes at this time, given public concerns from conservatives and moderates alike. He can only lose three Republican members, so changes to the bill text are a certainty.

Johnson’s effort to unify the conference behind the bill is a major test of his speakership, and his ability to deliver for Trump, who is also encouraging Republicans to support it.

Johnson worked over the weekend to sway Republican holdouts on the House Rules Committee to prevent blocking the legislation from moving out of the committee as they had on Friday. The hard-liners voted present on Sunday night to allow the bill to advance, but still haven’t offered full-throated support for the bill.

Trump is willing to get involved to help the effort, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday morning. She said the president was in contact with Johnson over the weekend and that Trump is “willing to pick up the phone” to encourage Republicans to fall in line on the bill.

Now, the Rules Committee is preparing for its hearing at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning — and that meeting will set the parameters for floor debate. Meanwhile, negotiations inside the speaker’s office will reach a fever pitch Monday and Tuesday as Republicans grapple over the sticking points — primarily regarding Medicaid work requirements and a cap on state and local tax deductions.

“Nothing is final until it’s final,” a senior House Republican leadership aide told reporters at a briefing Monday morning. “It’s a fragile process.”

Why meet at 1 a.m. on Wednesday? House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx let out a gentle laugh as she walked through the Capitol early Monday morning — telling ABC News the timing must adhere to the House rules after the House Budget Committee voted late Sunday night to advance the bill.

So what is the rule?

“Under the rules, Budget Dems get two calendar days to file minority views after [Sunday] night’s markup,” a Democratic aide explained. “Rules then has a one-hour notice requirement, hence [the hearing] starting at 1 a.m.”

If the Rules Committee reports the reconciliation package favorably to the floor, that would keep Johnson’s plans on schedule to hold a vote on passage on Thursday — though he has threatened to hold the House in session this weekend if there are any hiccups along the way.

Johnson is setting his sights on sending the package to Trump for his signature by the Fourth of July given a mid-July “deadline” to address the debt limit to avoid a default.

As negotiations continue behind closed doors, Republican aides stress that “95% of the bill is done” while they scramble to lock down support. A round of changes are anticipated to address technical modifications at the urging of the Senate parliamentarian, who is scrubbing the bill text and signaled some legislative language may be fatal to reconciliation privileges in the Senate.

“Everything is on the table,” a senior GOP aide said, stressing the fluidity of the overall discussions.

House Republicans are still weighing potential changes to implementation dates for Medicaid work requirements, balancing what is “feasible” for states to implement against the angst of Republicans whose patience does not extend to 2029, beyond the Trump presidency, as it’s currently written in the bill.

“We want to make sure that what we’re intending to do is actually matching an ability to implement,” a senior Republican aide said. “And so an exact date is hard to say at this stage because I think we’re still working through that.”

On SALT, aides said a resolution is “not decided yet” — explaining that members are just returning to town after a three-day weekend and the speaker continues to work through it.

Republicans insist they’re going to hit at least $1.5 trillion of savings with the bill while also reflecting Trump’s agenda — pointing at Congressional Budget Office’s letter confirming that all 11 committees met their reconciliation instruction targets.

“This has been a year’s worth of work to kind of figure out what are the priorities you want to instill. We started this a long time ago and worked towards it,” an aide emphasized. “We’ll work through all the changes that we need to make here, and then we’ll see where the final exact numbers shake out. But the bottom line is we had a framework set in the budget and we’re going to get that.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans who were protected from deportation and allowed to work in the United States.

The court approved the administration’s request to lift a lower court’s order that barred it from ending the protections.

In their application to the high court, lawyers representing the government had said the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California undermined “the Executive Branch’s inherent powers as to immigration and foreign affairs,” when it halted the administration from ending protections and work permits in April 2025 as opposed to the original date in October 2026.

Ahilan Arulanantham, who is representing TPS holders in the case, said he believes this to be “the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history.”

“This is the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history. That the Supreme Court authorized this action in a two-paragraph order with no reasoning is truly shocking,” Arulanantham said. “The humanitarian and economic impact of the Court’s decision will be felt immediately, and will reverberate for generations.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(LONDON) — A high-stakes phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is underway, as the White House continues its push for an end to Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine after last week’s peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey.

“The subjects of the call will be, stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media website on Saturday.

“I will then be speaking to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and then, with President Zelenskyy, various members of NATO,” Trump added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Monday morning’s briefing the public can expect to hear from President Trump or the White House following the calls.

ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Leavitt if Trump will set a new deadline for peace talks during his conversation with Putin, but Leavitt said she wouldn’t get ahead of Trump on any specific timeline.

“His goal is to see a ceasefire and to see this conflict come to an end, and he’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” she said.

Leavitt also said she believed Trump “would certainly be open” to meeting with Putin but “let’s see how this call goes today.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to journalists on Monday that the call would take place at 5 p.m. Moscow time — 10 a.m. ET — the state-run Tass news agency reported.

“The conversation is important given the talks that took place in Istanbul,” Peskov said, as quoted by Tass. “We have already said everything we could about the talks, what the main positional points are,” he said. “We will wait and give the best possible message based on the results of the conversation.”

Renewed direct contact with Putin — the last publicly known direct phone call between the two presidents took place in February — comes after Trump’s hopes for peace talks progress in Istanbul were scuppered, Putin having declined to attend despite Zelenskyy’s invitation to do so.

The Istanbul talks were the first known meeting between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv since spring 2022, when the Turkish city hosted the final round of unsuccessful peace negotiations to end Russia’s unfolding invasion.

Once it became clear Putin would not attend, Trump told reporters of the peace effort, “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, okay?”

“And obviously he wasn’t going to go,” Trump added. “He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we’re going to have to get it solved, because too many people are dying.”

Trump’s repeated threats of further sanctions on Russia have so far failed to precipitate any notable shift in Moscow’s war goals — which, according to public statements by officials, still include Ukraine’s ceding of four regions — which Russian forces do not fully control — plus Crimea, as well as a permanent block on Kyiv’s accession to NATO.

Putin said Sunday that any peace deal with Ukraine should “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis” and “guarantee Russia’s security.”

Kyiv and its European backers are still pushing for a full 30-day ceasefire, during which time they say peace negotiations can take place. Moscow has thus far refused to support the proposal, suggesting that all Western military aid to Ukraine would have to stop as part of any ceasefire.

Contacts between U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials continued after the end of the talks in Istanbul. On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio welcomed a prisoner exchange agreement reached during the Istanbul meeting and emphasized Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

Vice President JD Vance also met with Zelenskyy at the Vatican on Saturday, following Pope Leo XIV’s offer to host a bilateral meeting.

After the meeting, Zelenskyy wrote on X that he had “reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible.”

“We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange,” Zelenskyy continued. “Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday wrote on X that the Istanbul meeting highlighted a “stark difference” between Moscow and Kyiv. “Ukraine is forward-looking, focused on the full and immediate ceasefire to kickstart the real peace process.”

“To the contrary, Russia is completely focused on the past, rejecting the ceasefire and instead talking constantly about the 2022 Istanbul meetings, attempting to make the same absurd demands as three years ago,” the foreign minister said.

“This is yet another reason why pressure on Russia must be increased,” Sybiha added. “Moscow must now understand the consequences of impeding the peace process.”

Meanwhile, long-range strikes by both sides continued. On Sunday night into Monday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 112 drones into the country, 76 of which were shot down or jammed. Damage was reported in five regions of Ukraine, the air force said in a post to Telegram.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday morning that its forces had downed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — President Donald Trump is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin at around 10 a.m. ET on Monday, as the White House continues its push for an end to Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine after last week’s peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey.

“The subjects of the call will be, stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media website on Saturday.

“I will then be speaking to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and then, with President Zelenskyy, various members of NATO,” Trump added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Monday morning’s briefing the public can expect to hear from President Trump or the White House following the calls.

ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Leavitt if Trump will set a new deadline for peace talks during his conversation with Putin, but Leavitt said she wouldn’t get ahead of Trump on any specific timeline.

“His goal is to see a ceasefire and to see this conflict come to an end, and he’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” she said.

Leavitt also said she believed Trump “would certainly be open” to meeting with Putin but “let’s see how this call goes today.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to journalists on Monday that the call would take place at 5 p.m. Moscow time — 10 a.m. ET — the state-run Tass news agency reported.

“The conversation is important given the talks that took place in Istanbul,” Peskov said, as quoted by Tass. “We have already said everything we could about the talks, what the main positional points are,” he said. “We will wait and give the best possible message based on the results of the conversation.”

Renewed direct contact with Putin — the last publicly known direct phone call between the two presidents took place in February — comes after Trump’s hopes for peace talks progress in Istanbul were scuppered, Putin having declined to attend despite Zelenskyy’s invitation to do so.

The Istanbul talks were the first known meeting between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv since spring 2022, when the Turkish city hosted the final round of unsuccessful peace negotiations to end Russia’s unfolding invasion.

Once it became clear Putin would not attend, Trump told reporters of the peace effort, “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, okay?”

“And obviously he wasn’t going to go,” Trump added. “He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we’re going to have to get it solved, because too many people are dying.”

Trump’s repeated threats of further sanctions on Russia have so far failed to precipitate any notable shift in Moscow’s war goals — which, according to public statements by officials, still include Ukraine’s ceding of four regions — which Russian forces do not fully control — plus Crimea, as well as a permanent block on Kyiv’s accession to NATO.

Putin said Sunday that any peace deal with Ukraine should “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis” and “guarantee Russia’s security.”

Kyiv and its European backers are still pushing for a full 30-day ceasefire, during which time they say peace negotiations can take place. Moscow has thus far refused to support the proposal, suggesting that all Western military aid to Ukraine would have to stop as part of any ceasefire.

Contacts between U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials continued after the end of the talks in Istanbul. On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio welcomed a prisoner exchange agreement reached during the Istanbul meeting and emphasized Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

Vice President JD Vance also met with Zelenskyy at the Vatican on Saturday, following Pope Leo XIV’s offer to host a bilateral meeting.

After the meeting, Zelenskyy wrote on X that he had “reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible.”

“We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange,” Zelenskyy continued. “Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday wrote on X that the Istanbul meeting highlighted a “stark difference” between Moscow and Kyiv. “Ukraine is forward-looking, focused on the full and immediate ceasefire to kickstart the real peace process.”

“To the contrary, Russia is completely focused on the past, rejecting the ceasefire and instead talking constantly about the 2022 Istanbul meetings, attempting to make the same absurd demands as three years ago,” the foreign minister said.

“This is yet another reason why pressure on Russia must be increased,” Sybiha added. “Moscow must now understand the consequences of impeding the peace process.”

Meanwhile, long-range strikes by both sides continued. On Sunday night into Monday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 112 drones into the country, 76 of which were shot down or jammed. Damage was reported in five regions of Ukraine, the air force said in a post to Telegram.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday morning that its forces had downed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.