Trump and Putin talk about war in Ukraine but make no progress on ceasefire
Trump and Putin talk about war in Ukraine but make no progress on ceasefire

Trump and Putin talk about war in Ukraine but make no progress on ceasefire

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Trump and Putin talk about war in Ukraine but make no progress on ceasefire

President Donald Trump held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday morning. Putin said Russia was open to a negotiated solution to end the conflict, according to a Russian presidential aide. The two presidents discussed developments in Syria and possible joint projects in energy and space exploration. The topic of stopping U.S. arms supplies to Ukraine was not discussed, the aide said. The call came as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said publicly he wanted to discuss weapons supplies with Trump. The White House has not responded to questions about any upcoming calls scheduled with the Ukrainian president, who has been on better terms with Trump after a frosty February meeting in the Oval Office. It follows a decision this week to halt some weapons shipments to the war-torn country as it faces new aerial attacks. The weapons, which have been held in Western Europe for months, include Patriot interceptors, medium-range rockets, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons, aircraft missiles and more, says a congressional aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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President Donald Trump held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday morning, a discussion that came at a tenuous moment in Russia’s war against Ukraine and just after Trump halted some weapons shipments to the war-torn country as it faces new aerial attacks. “It was a pretty long call,” Trump said Thursday evening, saying that the war in Ukraine was among the topics.

“I’m not happy about that,” he said, indicating there was no movement toward a ceasefire. “No, I didn’t make any progress with him today at all.”

The call with Putin came as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said publicly he wanted to discuss weapons supplies with Trump — specifically Patriot missiles that would help it combat Russian attacks from the air.

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“I hope that maybe tomorrow or in close days I will speak to President Trump,” Zelensky told journalists in Copenhagen during a visit on Thursday.

The White House has not responded to questions about any upcoming calls scheduled with the Ukrainian president, who has been on better terms with Trump after a frosty February meeting in the Oval Office. Trump also spoke with Putin last month and for months has been pressuring him to end the conflict that began in February 2022.

During the call, Putin said Russia was open to a negotiated solution to end the conflict, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, and Trump again raised the issue of ending the war as soon as possible.

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The call lasted for almost an hour, Ushakov said, and was “businesslike and concrete.”

Putin and Trump agreed to continue communication but did not discuss scheduling an in-person meeting, Ushakov said. The topic of stopping U.S. arms supplies to Ukraine was not discussed.

In addition to the war in Ukraine, the two presidents discussed developments in Syria and possible joint projects in energy and space exploration. Putin also congratulated Trump on the upcoming Independence Day celebrations.

Trump for months has sought to achieve a ceasefire that has proved elusive, speaking to the complexities in a war that he once said he could end on his first day in office. He has spoken repeatedly of wanting to end the killing in a conflict in which estimates have suggested nearly 1 million Russian troops and 400,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded.

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His discussion with Putin, the first since last month when they spoke about tensions in the Middle East, follows a decision this week to halt some weapons shipments to Ukraine. White House officials have attributed the decision to a review that found American military stockpiles to be low, something Trump reiterated Thursday night.

“We’re giving weapons, but we’ve given so many weapons,” he said. “You know, Biden emptied out our own country giving weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.”

The weapons, which have been held in Western Europe for months, include Patriot interceptors, medium-range rockets, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons, aircraft missiles and more, according to a congressional aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive defense planning.

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Kyiv’s need for air defense is particularly dire, as Russia launches unprecedented attacks on infrastructure and civilian targets. Ukraine operates the Patriot, which is its premier air defense system used to defend against Russian missiles and jets. Another batch of weapons, AIM-7 missiles, are designed to fire from aircraft but have been modified by Ukrainians to use as air defense ammunition.

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The artillery and rocket rounds are also high-priority munitions for Ukrainian front-line troops bracing for Russian offensive operations. U.S. rocket artillery and howitzers can fire farther than aging Soviet systems in Ukraine’s inventory, and those weapons are crucial to blunt Russian advances and paralyze command posts and supply lines behind the front.

Air defense systems and ammunition are inherently scarce and costly, experts have said, pointing to a need to plan for healthy stockpiles ahead of global crises.

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Other weapons being held back, like anti-tank rockets, are not in critically short supply. While it is typical for the Pentagon to review its readiness and weapons stockpiles in a new administration, such as the one Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has overseen, the process has raised questions of whether it is a negotiating tactic.

“Hegseth’s repeated, specific targeting of Ukraine would suggest he is using the review as convenient cover to cut off support for Ukraine, as a political point,” the congressional aide said.

The decision has angered Republican allies who have been supportive of Ukraine, the aide said, and it is only the latest example of Hegseth’s decisions over Ukraine triggering bipartisan confusion on Capitol Hill.

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His February comments that Kyiv had an “illusionary goal” to regain territory it lost to Russia since 2014 was blasted by conservative allies who believed it removed leverage in peace negotiations, including Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), who called the comments a “rookie mistake.” Before that, Hegseth caught the White House off guard by halting aid deliveries to Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Spokespeople for Hegseth did not return a request for comment.

Source: Washingtonpost.com | View original article

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/03/trump-putin-zelensky-russia-ukraine/

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