Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed the war in Iran and floated a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine in a phone call on Wednesday.
In the call, which lasted more than 90 minutes, the Russian president said Moscow viewed the prospect of a US ground operation in Iran as dangerous, while welcoming Trump’s decision to extend a ceasefire in the region, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser.
Russia has largely been sidelined in diplomacy over the war in Iran, an ally of the Kremlin, but western intelligence agencies say Moscow has continued to provide support, including intelligence and drones to strike US targets in the area.
Trump later said: “We had a very good conversation, I’ve known him a long time.”
The US president said Putin offered his help to take Iran’s buried uranium to Russia, but Trump said he preferred for the Russian president to be “involved with ending the war in Ukraine”.
Trump reiterated that he believed a deal to end the Ukraine conflict was close. Despite repeated US statements to that effect, the two sides remain far from any lasting settlement.
Putin has signalled he is prepared to continue fighting until Ukraine cedes territory Russia currently controls in the Donbas, among other demands. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently rejected any such concessions, leaving the region a central faultline in stalled peace efforts.
In the call, Putin told Trump that Russian forces retained the initiative and were pushing back Ukrainian positions.
Military analysts and open-source information on battlefield advances, however, indicate neither side appears close to a breakthrough. Russia’s advances have slowed in recent months, with both armies showing signs of exhaustion and sustaining heavy casualties, while continuing to target each other’s energy infrastructure.
In previous conversations, Putin has sought to convince Trump that Russia is winning the war, a view Trump has at times echoed.
Trump has in the past alternated between blaming Moscow and Kyiv for the ongoing fighting, but in recent remarks has again placed greater responsibility on Ukraine.
The potential temporary ceasefire comes as Ukrainian long-range drones continue to strike Russian territory almost daily. The attacks have largely targeted industrial and military sites, including oil infrastructure and logistics hubs, at times triggering large fires and prompting civilian evacuations.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Kremlin said it would scale back this year’s Victory Day parade because of the threat, with no military hardware 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, accusing Russia of using such pauses to regroup and prepare further attacks.
Ushakov said Putin had expressed readiness to announce a temporary ceasefire proposed by Trump to coincide with Victory Day celebrations.
At one point, Trump told reporters that Ukraine’s military had been defeated, saying the country had lost all their ships and planes. It appeared he was confusing Ukraine with Iran, as he has previously used similar language when claiming success for the US operation against Iran.