Putin and Trump discussed Iran and Ukraine in phone call, Kremlin official says
While discussing the situation around Iran, Mr Putin emphasised the need to resolve all issues by political and diplomatic means, said Yuri Ushakov, his foreign affairs adviser.
The United States struck three sites in Iran on June 22, inserting itself into Israel's war aimed at destroying Tehran's nuclear programme.
On the conflict in Ukraine, Mr Ushakov said Mr Trump emphasised his push for a quick halt to the fighting, and Mr Putin voiced Moscow's readiness to pursue talks with Kyiv.
Emergency services work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in the Donetsk region of Ukraine (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
At the same time, the Russian leader emphasised that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the 'root causes' of the conflict, Mr Ushakov said.
Mr 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 recognise Russia's territorial gains.
Thursday's call follows the Pentagon's confirmation that it is pausing shipments of some weapons to Ukraine as it reviews US military stockpiles. The weapons being held up for Ukraine include air defence 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.
Mr Ushakov said a suspension of some US weapons shipments to Ukraine was not discussed in the Trump-Putin call.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he may talk to Mr 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 Mr Trump and Mr Putin came on June 14, a day after Israel attacked Iran.
The resumed contacts between Mr Trump and Mr 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, Mr Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron held their first direct telephone call in almost three years.
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