Oil prices plunged more than 2% on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump took the first major step toward diplomacy over the war in Ukraine that he has vowed to end, a war that has supported oil prices amid concerns about global supply.

Brent crude futures fell $1.82, or 2.36%, to $75.18 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $1.95, or 2.66%, to $71.37.

U.S. crude futures fell more than $2 at their session lows. The declines followed three days of gains, with Brent up 3.6% and WTI up 3.7%.

U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the war in Ukraine in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"Trump's peace talks, I think, have taken some of the risk premium off the oil price right now," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group.

In a post on his social media platform, Trump said he and Putin had "agreed that our respective teams will begin negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskiy, of Ukraine, to let him know about the negotiations, which I will do now."

Zelenskiy's office said Trump and Zelenskiy spoke by phone for about an hour.

Investors are also trying to gauge the Federal Reserve's next move in cutting interest rates following comments on Tuesday by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and after data on Wednesday showed U.S. consumer prices rose more than expected in January.

Source: Investing.com