Trump sent chilling warning by Putin over Russia's invasion of Ukraine
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone today in their sixth publicly disclosed chat since the former returned to the White House, the Kremlin announced.
They spoke about the ongoing conflict in Iran and Israel as Putin emphasised the need to resolve all issues by political and diplomatic means, according to his foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov. The US hit three sites in Iran on June 22, in what Trump called a "very successful" operation aimed at destroying Tehran's nuclear program.
On the conflict in Ukraine, Ushakov said Trump spoke about his need for a quick halt to the fighting, while Putin voiced Moscow's readiness to pursue talks with Kyiv. At the same time, the Russian leader issued a chilling warning to Trump.
He said that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the "root causes" of the conflict. Putin has argued he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to fend off a threat to Russia posed by Ukraine's push to join NATO and protect Russian speakers in Ukraine - arguments rejected by Kyiv and its allies.
He insisted that any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine abandon its NATO bid and recognize Russia's territorial gains. Thursday's call follows the Pentagon's confirmation that it's pausing shipment of some weapons to Ukraine as it reviews US military stockpiles.
The weapons being held up for Ukraine include air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other equipment. The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries were confirmed by a US official and former national security official familiar with the matter.
They both requested anonymity to discuss what is being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details. Ushakov said a suspension of some US weapons shipments to Ukraine wasn't discussed in the Trump-Putin call.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he may talk to Trump in the coming days about the suspension of US weapons deliveries.
"I hope that maybe tomorrow, or close days, these days, I will speak about it with President Trump," he said.
Asked about his expectations from the Trump-Putin call, he said that "I'm not sure that they have a lot of common ideas, common topics to talk (about), because they are very different people."
The previous publicly known call between Trump and Putin came June 14, a day after Israel attacked Iran.
The resumed contacts between Trump and Putin appeared to reflect both leaders' interest in mending US-Russian ties that have plummeted to their lowest point since the Cold War amid the conflict in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron held their first direct telephone call in almost three years.
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