Trump claims call with Putin could end Ukraine conflict
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, claims that he spoke with the leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, about ending the war in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed nor denied this information.
Donald Trump claims that he spoke on the phone with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, attempting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. The President of the United States announced this on Friday, February 7, in an interview given exclusively to the American tabloid, the "New York Post," aboard Air Force One.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed nor denied information about such a phone conversation between the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, when asked to comment on the "New York Post" reports by the Russian news agency TASS.
War in Ukraine
The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014, after the overthrow of a pro-Russian president following the revolution on Ukraine's Maidan and the annexation of Crimea by Russia. At that time, Russian-backed separatist forces fought against the Ukrainian armed forces.
In February 2022, Putin sent thousands of troops to Ukraine, calling it a "special military operation" aimed at protecting the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine and countering what he perceived as a serious threat from Ukraine's potential NATO membership.
Ukraine and its Western supporters, led by the United States, stated that the invasion was an imperial attempt to seize land and promised assistance in defeating Russian forces.
Moscow controls a portion of Ukraine with an area close to the size of the American state of Virginia and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the 2022 invasion.
Putin sets conditions
In early February this year, Reuters, citing two Russian sources familiar with the matter, reported that Russia is considering the possibility of organizing a summit in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with the participation of Putin and Trump.
On June 14 of last year, Putin presented preliminary conditions for the immediate end of the war: Ukraine must abandon its ambitions of joining NATO and withdraw its troops from the entire territory of four Ukrainian regions, to which Russia lays claim and mostly controls.
The Reuters agency reported in November of last year that Putin is open to talks with Trump regarding a peace agreement with Ukraine but rules out any major territorial concessions and insists that Kyiv abandon its NATO membership ambitions.
The Kremlin has repeatedly called for caution in speculations about contacts with Trump's team regarding a possible peace agreement.
