Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call two days after a U.S. delegation’s visits to Moscow and Kyiv.
Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov provided Russian news agencies with details of the conversation between the two presidents. He said Trump and Putin exchanged views on the Sept. 5-6 visits to Moscow and Kyiv by U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, BBC reports.
“The results of the visits by the aforementioned U.S. representatives were assessed positively,” Ushakov said.
The discussion centered on efforts to settle the war in Ukraine. According to Ushakov, Trump spoke about “the desirability of ending the conflict as quickly as possible,” saying this would open prospects for restoring U.S.-Russian relations, including trade and economic ties.
Trump expressed a desire to achieve a “breakthrough” during his presidency, while Putin supported his “commitment in the context of establishing possible constructive cooperation between the two great powers.”
According to Ushakov’s statement, the Russian president also presented Trump with an “objective and detailed analysis” of developments on the battlefield.
The report notes that Vladimir Putin’s statements about Russian military successes on the front have often not corresponded with reality. For example, in early September, he said Russian forces had retaken Sviatohirsk in the Donetsk region, but neither DeepState nor the Institute for the Study of War confirmed the claim. Volodymyr Zelenskyy also denied reports that Sviatohirsk had been captured.
“Incidentally, it was also noted what the Americans could actually do to bring about the fastest possible end to the hostilities,” Ushakov added.
Putin also stressed that Russia has “no aggressive plans” toward European countries.
The White House has not yet commented on the Trump-Putin phone call.
This was Putin and Trump’s fifth phone conversation since the beginning of 2026. They previously spoke by phone on July 4, and according to the Kremlin, that conversation lasted almost an hour and a half.
In outlining the topics discussed by the presidents, Ushakov did not mention a possible trilateral meeting involving representatives of the U.S., Russia and Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said negotiations on ending the war could return to a trilateral format involving the U.S., Ukraine and Russia.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukrainian representatives are preparing to meet “Europeans and Americans, both at the leadership and adviser levels” in the near future.
“After that, all of us will prepare for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. and work to bring it closer. If all sides agree, we also want to hold it in the fall. If it can happen in September, that would be excellent — the sooner, the better,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Sept. 8.
Zelenskyy said the meeting could be held in the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland or Turkey.
The Ukrainian president separately stressed that Europe is already part of the negotiations and will participate in “all future formats of negotiations.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow expects trilateral negotiations involving Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine to resume.
“U.S. negotiators are spending a great deal of time and effort traveling between Moscow and Kyiv these days and conveying the positions of both sides. We hope that some progress will be seen in this regard. We expect negotiations in a trilateral format involving Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. to resume,” he said, according to Russia’s RBC.
Peskov, however, did not specify when negotiations in that format could resume. He only added that European participation in the talks could complicate the process rather than facilitate it.
Suspilne and Ukrainska Pravda reported that Russia could be prepared for negotiations after the State Duma elections scheduled for Sept. 18-20. European sources told the outlets about the possibility. According to both publications, potential negotiations were discussed during a meeting with Witkoff and Kushner in Kyiv that was also attended by European officials.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said topics discussed at a possible trilateral meeting could include energy, grain and prisoner exchanges.
RBC-Ukraine, citing its own source, reported Tuesday that following Trump’s representatives’ visits to Moscow and Kyiv, the sides discussed the possibility of “at least a limited ceasefire before or during winter, for example, by refraining from mutual strikes on energy facilities.”
“After that, opportunities for further settlement could emerge,” RBC-Ukraine’s informed source said.
