Trump and Putin discuss 90-minute call on temporary Russia Ukraine ceasefire
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed a temporary ceasefire in russia ukraine during a phone call on Wednesday that lasted more than 90 minutes. Trump later said, "We had a very good conversation, I’ve known him a long time."
Putin’s ceasefire signal
Yuri Ushakov said Putin was ready to announce a temporary ceasefire proposed by Trump to coincide with Victory Day celebrations. Ushakov also said Putin viewed the prospect of a US ground operation in Iran as dangerous and welcomed Trump’s decision to extend a ceasefire in the region.
Putin told Trump that Russian forces retained the initiative and were pushing back Ukrainian positions. At the same time, military analysts and open-source information indicate neither side appears close to a breakthrough, while Russia’s advances have slowed in recent months.
Trump’s Ukraine position
Trump told reporters later on Wednesday that Ukraine’s military had been defeated and that the country had lost all their ships and planes. He also said Putin offered his help to take Iran’s buried uranium to Russia and that he preferred for Putin to be "involved with ending the war in Ukraine".
Trump said he believed a deal to end the Ukraine conflict was close. Putin has signalled he is prepared to continue fighting until Ukraine cedes territory Russia currently controls in the Donbas, while Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently rejected such concessions.
Victory Day and Ukraine
Earlier on Wednesday, the Kremlin said it would scale back this year’s Victory Day parade because of the threat, and no military hardware was on display for the first time in nearly two decades. Ukraine has remained sceptical of short-term ceasefire proposals from Moscow, including one briefly implemented over Easter, saying Russia uses pauses to regroup and prepare further attacks.
Ukrainian long-range drones continue to strike Russian territory almost daily, mostly hitting industrial and military sites, including oil infrastructure and logistics hubs. Some of those attacks have triggered large fires and prompted civilian evacuations, keeping pressure on both governments as any temporary truce would still need to be translated into terms both sides can live with.
The next step remains the same friction point that has shaped earlier talks: whether Moscow’s temporary pause proposal becomes a real halt or another short-lived interval before the fighting resumes. Putin’s willingness to discuss it gives Trump a diplomatic opening, but Zelenskyy’s rejection of territorial concessions keeps the core dispute intact.
