U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the potential for fully restoring trade and economic ties between the United States and Russia if the Ukraine war ends swiftly, according to a Kremlin readout of their call on Tuesday.
The conversation, which lasted one hour, was described as "constructive and very candid" by Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, according to Russia's Tass news agency. Trump expressed his desire for the Ukraine war to end "as soon as possible," while Putin provided an "objective and thorough" analysis of Russia's special military operation, Ushakov said.
Trump also stated that a swift end to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine would "immediately open up impressive and far-reaching prospects for relations between the US and Russia to be fully restored," according to Ushakov. Putin shared his views on what the American side could do to help quickly end military operations in Ukraine and dismissed speculation about a Russian threat to European nations.
The call marked Putin's fifth conversation with Trump this year and the 15th between the two leaders since Trump took office in early 2025, according to Tass. The discussion came after a brief pause in Russian air attacks on major Ukrainian cities, which resumed over the weekend following visits by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized the international community's response to the latest Russian strikes, calling it "too little." Meanwhile, Russian forces have increased missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, while Ukraine has pursued long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and logistics hubs to raise the cost of the war for Moscow.
