US President Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, has agreed to hold negotiations that will end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine.

Trump said Putin gave consent to negotiate in a telephone call they had on Wednesday.

It was the first announced conversation between both leaders since Trump became US president for the second time.

In a Truth Social post, the US president said the phone call with Putin was “lengthy and highly productive”.

He added that they agreed to have their “respective teams start negotiations immediately”.

“As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump said.

“President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON SENSE.’ We both believe very strongly in it.”

The US negotiating team would include Marco Rubio, secretary of state; John Ratcliffe, director of the CIA; Michael Waltz, national security adviser; and Steve Witkoff, ambassador and special envoy.

Trump said he felt “strongly” that the negotiations would be possible and added that he and Putin also agreed to visit each other’s countries.

The Ukrainian government has voiced concern over negotiations that would rule out the US sending troops to Ukraine.