Trump pressed Putin to end Ukraine war during confidential call, Kremlin says

Donald Trump has urged Vladimir Putin to bring a swift end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, using the prospect of restored trade relations as an incentive during an hour-long phone call between the two presidents. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Trump had “clearly conveyed” his desire for an early resolution to the conflict, a message that Putin purportedly supported. Yury Ushakov, the Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser, told reporters that Trump had pitched the idea as a way to “immediately open impressive and large-scale prospects for the full restoration” of US-Russian relations, emphasising the “enormous benefits” of developing bilateral trade and economic ties.

The White House had not confirmed the call at the time of the Kremlin’s statement, which offered few specifics. “You understand yourselves that [the call] was confidential, so I will hardly be able to share many important details and nuances,” Ushakov said, adding that Trump was “interested in achieving a breakthrough during his presidency”. The conversation followed separate visits to Moscow and Kyiv by Trump’s special envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, which Ushakov said both presidents viewed positively, with Putin continuing to praise Trump’s mediation efforts.

Yet behind the diplomatic rhetoric, the Kremlin’s position remains as uncompromising as ever. Ushakov said Putin had provided Trump with an “objective and thorough analysis” of the battlefield situation, together with his views on achieving the war’s objectives. Those objectives, as Putin has repeatedly made clear, include the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the unoccupied parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region—a condition that Kyiv has firmly rejected as a non‑starter for any peace negotiations.

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has now stretched into its fifth year, with Moscow showing little sign of abandoning its maximalist aims despite mounting casualties and international isolation. The Trump administration’s apparent eagerness to engage the Kremlin on trade and investment risks lending legitimacy to a regime that has shown nothing but contempt for Ukraine’s sovereignty. The World House has consistently maintained that any meaningful peace must be built on the expulsion of Russian forces from all occupied Ukrainian territory, not on concessions that would reward aggression. Ukraine, defending its very existence against a brutal assault, deserves unwavering support, not a deal that sacrifices its territorial integrity at the altar of commercial opportunity. As Trump dangles trade prospects, the Kremlin’s true priorities remain unchanged: the subjugation of its neighbour and the rewriting of Europe’s borders by force.