U.S. President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a swift resolution to the Ukraine war could pave the way for the countries to fully restore trade and economic ties, according to a Kremlin readout of a call between the two leaders.
Trump and Putin were said to have exchanged views on the results of the recent visits to Moscow and Kyiv by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have sought to revive stalled diplomatic talks to bring an end to the conflict.
Russia has resumed air attacks on major Ukrainian cities after a brief pause for the visit of U.S. peace negotiators over the weekend. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that there has been "too little response" from the international community to the latest deadly strikes.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Trump and Putin spoke to each other for exactly one hour on Tuesday, describing the conversation as "constructive and very candid," according to Russia's Tass news agency.
Trump made clear that he wanted the Ukraine war to come to an end "as soon as possible," Ushakov said, adding that Putin gave Trump an "objective and thorough" analysis of what Russia characterizes as its special military operation.