Trump tells Putin he is ready to help end Ukraine conflict, Kremlin adviser says

US President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that ending the conflict in Ukraine was vital and he was ready to help, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said.

Ushakov, who said the two leaders spoke for 55 minutes, also said Trump told Putin that an agreement on ending the conflict in Iran was close.

“As regards the Ukrainian conflict, Donald Trump again emphasised that a cessation of hostilities was vital,” Ushakov told journalists in comments posted on the Kremlin website.

“He said he was ready to act with European partners and Kyiv, including in talks at the G7 summit,” he added, referring to the summit of G7 industrialised countries this week in the French resort of Evian.

He also quoted Trump as saying that a rapid resolution would allow “perspectives to open for a new quality of US-Russian relations.”

Ushakov said Putin told the US president that intensified Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets would not change the situation on the battlefield.

“In Evian, the Europeans and Zelenskiy will try to present everything to be precisely the opposite and will propose ideas aimed at dragging out the conflict and continuing hostilities,” Ushakov said.

In Washington, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the telephone conversation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the strikes and a shift in momentum on the battlefield in Ukraine’s favour has opened a window of opportunity to reach a peace deal.

Ushakov said US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have led US-brokered negotiations aimed at ending the Ukraine war, would soon be undertaking another visit to Russia.

Diplomatic efforts on ending the Ukraine war have stalled as Washington remains focused on the conflict in Iran.

On the Iran conflict, Ushakov said Trump told the Kremlin leader that an agreement “was close and he expects that the results of the difficult but ultimately successful negotiations can be made public already today.”

Putin, he said, expressed satisfaction that the conflict “that was liable to inflame not only the region itself can, by all accounts, be stopped”.

Ushakov also said Putin congratulated Trump on his 80th birthday in an “informal” way and praised First Lady Melania Trump for her efforts to reunite families during the conflict in Ukraine. — Reuters