Trump offers Putin help on deal with Ukraine

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin he was ready to help seek a settlement to the war in Ukraine during a nearly 90-minute phone call, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in remarks released early on Sunday. Ushakov said the conversation took place on Saturday, US Independence Day, and came ahead of Trump’s participation next week in the Nato summit in Turkiye.

According to Ushakov, Trump said he wanted to work towards a quick end to the fighting and help find ways to resolve the crisis. Ushakov described the exchange as business-like and quite constructive, and said Russia remained in favour of a political and diplomatic solution that took into account what he called Moscow’s fundamental position.

Ushakov also said Trump told Putin that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would continue efforts to broker a settlement and were prepared to make another trip to Moscow. He added that Putin expressed hope that US diplomacy on the Iran conflict would help produce mutually acceptable long-term solutions on key settlement issues. Ushakov further said Putin reminded Trump that he had an open invitation to visit Moscow.

In his comments, Ushakov accused Kyiv and its European allies of seeking to prolong and even intensify the war, as well as carrying out terrorism against civilians. He linked those remarks to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russian targets, particularly facilities connected to the oil sector, which he said had led to fuel shortages in several Russian regions.

Ushakov said Putin outlined what he called the real battlefield situation and told Trump that Russian forces were advancing steadily and taking one locality after another. Earlier on Friday, Russian commanders had informed Putin that Moscow’s troops had seized the strategically important city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. But on the following day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine’s military leadership rejected that claim, saying Ukrainian forces still held the city.

Russia has said that any settlement must include full Russian control over Ukraine’s Donbas region. Ukraine has rejected that position. Last month, Zelensky urged Putin to meet him one-on-one, but the Kremlin leader declined.

Zelensky said he also spoke with Trump and described that conversation on his Telegram account as very good. He said they discussed the 1,200-km front line and agreed to continue talks during the Nato meeting.

"There is a real prospect to end this war and American resolve will have a crucial meaning"

Zelensky said Trump again confirmed his willingness to work towards a rapid end to the war and to seek solutions to the crisis. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that Ukraine had refused to stop shelling Kostiantynivka town to allow Russia to transfer the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers.