The US President Donald Trump said the United States was making progress in talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, but declined to provide details about any contacts with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
He told reporters on board Air Force One, Reuters reports.
Journalists asked whether he had a conversation with Putin after he became president on January 20 or before.
"Yes, there was [a conversation]. And I expect I will have many more conversations. We must end this war," he declared.
Reuters notes that this may be the first officially recognized conversation between Putin and the US president since early 2022.
"I believe we are making progress. We want to stop the Ukrainian-Russian war," he separately noted.
The president said the United States is in contact with Russia and Ukraine and "talks to both sides".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in a comment to Russian media, said that he could neither confirm nor deny information about a possible conversation between Trump and Putin.
The US Presidentʼs National Security Advisor Mike Waltz also declined to elaborate when asked about communications between the two countries.
"There are definitely a lot of sensitive conversations going on," Waltz said on NBC News.
Trumpʼs plans for war in Ukraine
During the election campaign, Trump claimed that he could end the war in Ukraine “in one day.” However, after being elected president, his narratives changed. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal writes that he instructed special envoy Keith Kellogg to end the war in 100 days.
Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stressed that the state will defend its integrity and will not cede its territories to Russia. In September 2024, Zelensky met with Donald Trump and presented him with a victory plan. According to the Ukrainian leader, the meeting was very meaningful.
The new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that under Donald Trumpʼs presidency, ending the Russia-Ukraine war will be the official policy of the United States. And Trump himself, two days after his inauguration, called on Putin to end the war or face heavy taxes and sanctions.
According to Zelensky, he is impressed by the US presidentʼs tactics for ending hostilities. However, he stressed that Trump and Putinʼs talks about a war without Ukraine are dangerous for everyone.
- Bloomberg recently reported that the Trump administration would present a plan to end Russiaʼs war against Ukraine on February 14-16 at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. However, Kellogg denied this.
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