'No progress' on Ukraine: Trump on call with Putin
Donald Trump said he "wasn't happy" with the war in Ukraine and conceded he "didn't make any progress" during his phone call with Vladimir Putin. File photo: Reuters
US President Donald Trump said he made no progress with Vladimir Putin on ending the Ukraine war in a call on Thursday, as the Kremlin insisted the Russian president would stick to his aims in the conflict.
Trump's grim assessment came as US-led peace talks on ending the more than three-year-old conflict in Ukraine have stalled, and after Washington paused some weapons shipments to Kyiv.
"It was a pretty long call, we talked about a lot of things including Iran, and we also talked about, as you know, the war with Ukraine. And I'm not happy about that," Trump told reporters.
Asked if he had moved closer to a deal to end the war, Trump replied: "No, I didn't make any progress with him at all."
Trump's view of the call was unusually bleak. After most of his previous five calls with Putin since returning to power in January he has given optimistic reports of progress towards a deal.
But he has shown increasing frustration with Putin after an early pivot towards the Russian leader.
In recent weeks he knocked back Putin's offer to mediate in the Iran-Israel conflict, telling him to focus on the Ukraine war instead.
In Moscow, the Kremlin said the call lasted almost an hour and said that Putin had insisted he would not give up on Russia's goals.
"Our president said that Russia will achieve the aims it set, that is to say the elimination of the root causes that led to the current state of affairs," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
"Russia will not give up on these aims."
Moscow has long described its maximalist aims in Ukraine as getting rid of the "root causes" of the conflict, demanding that Kyiv give up its Nato ambitions.
Moscow's war in Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people since the start of the war in February 2022, and Russia now controls large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Even so, Putin told Trump that Moscow would continue to take part in negotiations.
"He also spoke of the readiness of the Russian side to continue the negotiation process," Ushakov added.
"Vladimir Putin said that we are continuing to look for a political, negotiated solution to the conflict."
Moscow has for months refused to agree to a US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said that Putin had also "stressed" to Trump that all conflicts in the Middle East should be solved "diplomatically", after the US struck nuclear sites in Russia's ally Iran.
The conversation came days after Washington announced a decision to pause some weapons shipments in a blow to Kyiv, which has been reliant on Western military support.
Kyiv said that Russian strikes on Thursday killed at least eight people in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was visiting ally Denmark on Thursday to meet leading European Union officials.
Zelensky told EU allies in Denmark that doubts over US military aid reinforced the need for greater cooperation with Brussels and Nato.
He also stressed again that Kyiv had always supported Trump's "unconditional ceasefire".
On Wednesday, Kyiv scrambled to clarify with Washington the implications of announcements by the White House and Pentagon on pausing some weapons shipments.
"Continued American support for Ukraine, for our defence, for our people is in our common interest," Zelensky had said on Wednesday.
Russia has consistently called for Western countries to stop sending weapons to Kyiv. (AFP)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Donald Trump says US and China will hold talks on TikTok deal early next week
US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his interest in visiting China and announced that talks between Beijing and Washington were set to start early next week on a possible TikTok deal that could determine the future of the popular video-sharing platform. The fate of TikTok, which faces a potential ban in the US over national security concerns, has long been a sticking point in US-China relations. Under a law passed by the US Congress last year, ByteDance Ltd, the Beijing-based parent company of the social media app, is required to divest TikTok and secure a local buyer in the US. Trump, who has extended the divestment deadline three times to allow more time for negotiations, said on Friday that the US 'pretty much' had a deal on the sale of the app. 'I think we're gonna start Monday or to China, perhaps President Xi [Jinping] or one of his representatives, but we pretty much have a deal,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One, according to Reuters. When asked how confident he was that China would agree to a deal, he said, 'I'm not confident, but I think so. President Xi and I have a great relationship, and I think it's good for them. I think the deal is good for China and it's good for us.'
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Think Trump ‘obliterated' Iran's nuclear programme? Don't be so sure
Two weeks after the United States launched air strikes on three of Iran's key nuclear sites, mounting evidence is puncturing President Donald Trump 's boasts that the facilities were ' obliterated '. Advertisement From the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to leading American non-proliferation experts, scepticism is growing over Washington's assertions that the strikes set back Tehran's nuclear weapons ambitions 'by years'. Trump 'appears to have already lost interest', according to Barbara Slavin, a distinguished Middle East fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Centre think tank – apparently believing that a public declaration of victory renders negotiations with Iran unnecessary. But nuclear experts agree: no one outside Iran can say with any certainty what has become of the country's 900lb (409kg) stockpile of 60 per cent-enriched uranium. While this enrichment level falls one step short of weapons-grade, it is – by the UN's reckoning – enough to produce as many as nine nuclear warheads were Tehran to take that final leap. Instead of halting Iran's progress, the US and Israeli attacks have triggered a retaliatory ban on International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, cutting off the UN Security Council's oversight of the country's nuclear sites and, crucially, its cache of highly enriched uranium (HEU). Advertisement Before the strikes, the IAEA had what it described as a 'comprehensive' picture of Iran's HEU reserves and the centrifuges spinning to enrich uranium. But now, as Director General Rafael Grossi told US news network CBS last Sunday, 'there is nothing'.
HKFP
7 hours ago
- HKFP
France says ‘major issues remain' despite brandy price accord with China
France on Friday praised China's steps to settle a trade dispute over European brandy imports but warned that 'major issues' remained unresolved. The signs of a thaw in the row over the alcohol came as China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met French President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris. In recent months China and the European Union have butted heads over Beijing's generous subsidies for its domestic industries. Beijing launched an investigation last year into EU brandy, months after the bloc undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) subsidies. In the latest salvo, China will from Saturday require European brandy exporters to raise prices or risk anti-dumping taxes of up to 34.9 percent. Beijing said 34 European brandy makers, including several French cognac producers, had signed an accord to avoid tariffs as long as they stick to an agreed minimum price. France's cognac makers' association BNIC, which includes key producers Hennessy, Remy Cointreau and Martell, confirmed that some companies had agreed to price increases in China to avoid anti-dumping taxes. 'Positive step' Macron and Barrot praised China's steps to resolve the dispute but stressed they would discuss the outstanding differences with Wang. 'This is a positive step towards resolving this dispute, which was threatening our exports,' Macron said on X. 'I will continue to raise these issues with the Chinese authorities this afternoon.' In a statement to AFP, Barrot said: 'Several major issues remain unresolved, in particular the exclusion of certain players from the scope of the exemptions.' 'We remain fully committed to reaching a definitive solution based on the conditions that existed prior to the investigation,' he said. Wang has held fraught meetings in several European countries this week. After meeting Macron and Barrot, Wang told a press conference: 'The two sides had in-depth, active and sincere exchanges on Sino-French and European relations.' No mention was made of the brandy dispute. Almost all EU brandy is cognac produced in France, whose exports to China are worth 1.4 billion euros (US$1.6 billion) per year. French liquor giant Jas Hennessy said it would face levies of 34.9 percent if it did not stick to the deal. Remy Martin will be hit with 34.3 percent and Martell 27.7 percent. 'The decision to accept the price commitment once again demonstrates China's sincerity in resolving trade frictions through dialogue and consultation,' a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement. However, the European Commission kept up criticism of China's new tariffs. 'We believe that China's measures are unfair. We believe they are unjustified,' said commission trade spokesman Olof Gill. 'We believe they are inconsistent with the applicable international rules and are thus unfounded.' Upcoming summit China has sought to improve relations with the European Union as a counterweight to the United States. But frictions remain, including a yawning trade deficit of US$357.1 billion between China and the EU, as well as Beijing maintaining close ties with Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. The trade row blew up last year when the EU moved to impose hefty tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, arguing that Beijing's subsidies unfairly undercut European competitors. Beijing rejected the accusation and announced what were seen as retaliatory probes into imported European pork, brandy and dairy products. The EU imposed extra import taxes of up to 35 percent on Chinese electric vehicles in October. Beijing lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organisation, which in April said it would set up an expert panel to investigate. China and the EU are to hold a summit this month to mark the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. But Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources, that Beijing would cancel the second day of the summit, in a sign of the tensions.
