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What did the 12 February 2025 call set in motion?
Summary
A telephone call between the US and Russian presidents and an overnight missile strike on Kyiv marked the same day in the war.
What changed on 12 February 2025, and what stayed the same? Two events defined the day: a diplomatic announcement from Washington and another overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital.
During the night, Russian forces launched a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. One person was killed and four others were injured.
Later that day, US president Donald Trump spoke by telephone with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The conversation was said to have lasted an hour and a half. As described later, it was the first direct exchange of views between the leaders of the two countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
After the call, Trump announced the start of negotiations with Russia aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. He said the talks would begin immediately.
A day of contrast
The juxtaposition was stark. While a diplomatic channel between Washington and Moscow was reopening at leader level, the war continued in its usual form: ballistic missiles fell on Kyiv overnight, with casualties among civilians in the capital.
The announcement of negotiations came with the call itself, and it set out an intention to start talks without delay. What those negotiations would look like was not set out in the reports from that day.
The call ended a period in which the two presidents had not exchanged views directly since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. For readers following the war, 12 February 2025 therefore combined a significant shift in contact between the two capitals with a reminder of the continuing strikes on Ukraine.
