Published: 12:21 AM, 06 July 2026
Trump offers to help Putin reach deal with Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. -Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to Russian leader Vladimir Putin by telephone for nearly 90 minutes, offered to help find a solution to the Ukraine war, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in comments made public early on Sunday.
Ushakov said Trump made the offer during the call on Saturday, U.S. Independence Day, in the context of his participation next week at the NATO summit in Turkey.
"The American president once again confirmed his readiness to work towards a rapid end to the fighting and ?find solutions to overcome the crisis," Ushakov said of Trump's call with the Russian president.
Ushakov, who described the conversation as "business-like and quite constructive," said Russia sought "a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict, with due account of Russia's fundamental approach."
Ushakov accused Kyiv and its European allies of "counting on extending and even escalating the conflict, and on terrorism against civilians."
He was referring to Ukraine's long-range strikes on Russian targets, mainly linked to the oil industry, which have triggered fuel shortages in several Russian regions.
Ushakov said Putin "depicted the real situation on the battlefield where the Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one locality after another."
Russian commanders told Putin on Friday that Moscow's troops had captured the strategically important city of Kostiantynivka in eastern ?Ukraine's Donetsk region.
On Saturday, Zelenskiy and Ukraine's General Staff dismissed that claim, saying Kyiv's forces still controlled the city.
Russia has said any solution must include Moscow assuming full control over Ukraine's Donbas region.
Ukraine rejects that assertion and Zelenskiy urged Putin last month to hold a one-on-one meeting with him, but the Kremlin leader refused.
U.S. ENVOYS:
Ushakov quoted Trump as saying that Washington's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared ?Kushner, would keep trying to broker a settlement and were prepared to make another visit to Moscow.
U.S. diplomatic efforts have virtually stalled as Washington is focused on the war with Iran.
Ushakov said Putin expressed hope during the conversation that U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Iran ?conflict would "allow for mutually acceptable long-term solutions to be found on key issues of a settlement."
Ushakov said Putin also reminded Trump that he had an open invitation to visit Moscow.
Zelenskiy, writing on his Telegram account, described his conversation with ?the U.S. president as "very good," including a discussion on the war's 1,200-km (746-mile) front line.
"There is a real prospect to end this war and American resolve will have a crucial meaning," he said. Zelenskiy said he and Trump agreed to continue discussions at the NATO meeting.
The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied Crimea and annexed it from Ukraine. It then supported Russian separatist armed groups who started a war in the eastern Donbas region against Ukraine's military. In 2018, Ukraine declared the region to be occupied by Russia. The first eight years of conflict also involved naval incidents and cyberwarfare. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and began occupying more of the country, starting the current phase of the war, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. The war has resulted in a refugee crisis and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
In early 2014, the Euromaidan protests led to the Revolution of Dignity and the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Immediately after, unmarked Russian troops occupied Crimea. In March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea after an illegitimate referendum. Meanwhile, pro-Russian protests began in parts of southeastern Ukraine. In April 2014, Russian-backed militants seized towns and cities in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) as independent states, starting the Donbas war. Russia covertly supported the separatists with its own troops, tanks and artillery, preventing Ukraine from fully retaking the territory. The International Criminal Court (ICC) judged that the war was both a national and international armed conflict involving Russia, and the European Court of Human Rights judged that Russia controlled the DPR and LPR from 2014 onward. In February 2015, Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk II agreements, but they were never fully implemented in the following years. The Donbas war became a static conflict likened to trench warfare; ceasefires were repeatedly broken but the frontlines did not move.
Beginning in 2021, there was a massive Russian military buildup near Ukraine's borders, including within neighbouring Belarus. Russian officials repeatedly denied plans to attack Ukraine. Russia's president Vladimir Putin voiced expansionist views and challenged Ukraine's right to exist. He demanded that Ukraine be barred from ever joining the NATO military alliance. Ukraine had been officially a neutral country when the conflict began, but because of Russia's attacks it revived plans to join NATO. In early 2022, Russia recognised the DPR and LPR as independent states. While Russian troops surrounded Ukraine, its proxies stepped up attacks on Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.
On 24 February 2022, Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, claiming Russia had no plans to occupy the country. The Russian invasion that followed was internationally condemned; many countries imposed sanctions against Russia, and sent humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. In the face of fierce resistance, Russia abandoned an attempt to seize Kyiv in early April. In August, Ukrainian forces began liberating territories in the north-east and south. In September, Russia declared the annexation of four partially occupied provinces, which was internationally condemned. Since then, Russian offensives and Ukrainian counteroffensives have gained only small amounts of territory. The invasion has also led to attacks in Russia by Ukrainian and Ukrainian-backed forces, among them a cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk region in August 2024. Russia has repeatedly carried out deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians far from the frontline. The UN Human Rights Office reported that Russia was committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine. The ICC opened an investigation into war crimes and issued arrest warrants for Putin and several other Russian officials. Russia has repeatedly refused calls for a ceasefire.
