Trump speaks with Putin and Zelenskyy on Ukraine war

President Donald Trump held separate calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the United States pressed for ways to end the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, and as Kyiv and Moscow disputed the status of a key eastern city.

The Kremlin said Trump and Putin spoke by phone Saturday for nearly 90 minutes in what Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov described as a “businesslike and quite constructive” conversation. Zelenskyy said he also spoke with Trump on Saturday and discussed conditions along the roughly 1,200-kilometer, or 745-mile, front line.

“There is a real prospect of ending this war, and America’s determination will be crucial,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, according to CBS News. Al Jazeera reported a similar statement from Zelenskyy on Telegram: “There is a real prospect to end this war and American resolve will have a crucial meaning.” He said he and Trump agreed to continue talks in person during the NATO summit in Ankara.

Heads of state from 32 countries, including Trump, are expected in Ankara starting Tuesday for the July 7-8 summit, Al Jazeera reported.

Ushakov said Putin used the call to congratulate Trump and the American people on the 250th anniversary of American independence. He said Trump reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine. Ushakov also said Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, would continue mediation efforts and were prepared to visit Moscow.

Russia, Ushakov said, wants “a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict” that takes account of Moscow’s “fundamental approach.” CBS News quoted him as saying Putin emphasized Russia’s “preference for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, provided that Russia’s well-known, fundamental positions are taken into account.”

At the same time, Ushakov accused Kyiv and its European allies of “counting on extending and even escalating the conflict,” Al Jazeera reported. CBS News quoted him as saying Putin told Trump that Kyiv and its European backers were “betting on prolonging, and even escalating the conflict,” and that Europe’s “party of war” had a flawed view of conditions along the line of contact.

Ushakov said Putin described Russian forces as “confidently advancing, liberating one locality after another.” Russian commanders told Putin on Friday that Moscow’s troops had captured Kostiantynivka, a strategically important city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Kyiv rejected that claim. Zelenskyy called it “just another Russian lie,” and Ukraine’s General Staff said Sunday on Telegram that the city remained under Ukrainian control.

Both sides have made little progress in recent months, Al Jazeera reported, citing the widespread use of drones that hinder heavy vehicles and inflict losses.

The diplomatic calls came as officials installed by Moscow in occupied Crimea said a Ukrainian attack in northern Crimea killed one person and injured two others, one seriously. Russian-installed regional Gov. Sergei Aksyonov reported the casualties on Telegram but did not provide details about the attack.

Ukraine has stepped up strikes on infrastructure targets in Crimea in recent weeks as it tries to isolate the peninsula, CBS News reported. Russian authorities in Crimea declared a state of emergency late last month and halted fuel sales to civilians after Ukrainian attacks. Around that time, Putin told a Russian journalist that the strikes were causing “problems” for Russia, according to CBS News.

Crimea was seized by force and illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. Western analysts and officials say Ukraine’s increasing use of long-range strikes has shown its ability to inflict damage on Russia and increase pressure on the Kremlin, CBS News reported.