Kyiv:
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he discussed Russian and Ukrainian requests and needs for a peace deal in an hour-long call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “We are very much on track,” Trump added.
The Kremlin also said Wednesday that Putin and Trump “trust each other” and want to normalise US-Russia ties after more than three years of Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.
“Presidents Putin and Trump understand each other well, trust each other and are intent to gradually move towards the normalisation of ties,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the pair’s phone call Tuesday lasted around two hours.
Zelensky earlier today warned against heeding the Kremlin’s calls to halt military aid for his country, announcing that he would speak with Trump about it later.
Putin issued the demand after the call with Trump on Tuesday.
“I do not believe that we should make any concessions in terms of assistance for Ukraine, but rather there should be an increase in assistance for Ukraine,” Zelensky said at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb.
The call between Trump and Putin failed to secure the breakthrough ceasefire that Ukraine has been pushing for after it endorsed the US-led proposal last week.
But the Kremlin said it agreed to halt Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Zelensky said he hoped to learn details during the call with Trump.
“Today I will have contacts with President Trump and we will discuss the next steps,” Zelensky said.
