Trump, Putin hold ‘frank’ phone call as US restarts Ukraine deal efforts

What the report says

US President Donald Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the White House renewed efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yury Ushakov, said the roughly hour-long conversation was “constructive and quite frank,” and said the two leaders discussed the conflict and recent diplomatic contacts.

The call followed separate meetings in recent days between US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to the report, those talks centered on a Trump-described proposal to end Europe’s deadliest current war, but no breakthrough was announced. Zelenskyy said the envoys’ visit was important and reiterated that ending the war remained a priority.

Al Jazeera said the latest diplomacy came amid continued fighting. Ukrainian officials reported that Russian attacks on Tuesday killed at least five civilians in Kyiv and wounded 25 others, while Russian authorities said strikes in the Bryansk and Kursk regions killed three people and injured 13. Local officials in Russian-annexed Crimea also reported fatalities.

The report adds broader context: Trump has made ending the war a central goal of his second administration, while his approach has drawn criticism for appearing to sideline Ukrainian and European officials. It also noted that Trump and Zelenskyy are expected to meet later this month.