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 held a high-stakes phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday as he continued his push for an end to Moscow's 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine after last week's peace talks in Istanbul,

Vladimir Putin rejected calls to join direct talks with Ukraine's leader in Turkey, seemingly unphased by mounting pressure from Trump to strike a peace deal.