President Donald Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, following his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before. Trump described the conversation as “very good” and said efforts to align Russia and Ukraine on their “requests and needs” were progressing.
“Just completed a very good telephone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine,” Trump wrote. “It lasted approximately one hour. Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs. We are very much on track.”
Trump said that an official statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz was forthcoming.
The call comes after comments made by Zelensky that despite reports Putin would decrease targeted attacks, several had taken place overnight. “Even this night after Putin's talk with President Trump, when Putin allegedly said he had given the order to stop strikes on the Ukrainian energy targets, 150 drones hit energy infrastructure, transport, unfortunately two hospitals,” Zelensky told reporters in Helsinki, Finland. “Putin's words are very different from reality," he said according to NPR.During his visit to Finland, Zelensky met with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who stressed that Russia should accept the full ceasefire agreement that American and Ukrainian negotiators have proposed. Stubb made clear that there should be no conditions attached to the deal.
“There are only two ways to respond to the proposal of the president of the United States: yes or no… but no conditions,” Stubb said at a press conference alongside Zelensky.
Meanwhile, Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, expressed skepticism about Putin’s intentions, saying the Russian president is “playing a game.”
“We’ve seen that attacks on civilian infrastructure have not eased at all in the first night after this supposedly ground-breaking, great phone call” between Putin and Trump, Pistorius said in an interview with German public television.
Zelensky has worked to demonstrate his commitment to negotiations, especially after an explosive meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House last month. Despite his doubts about Russia’s commitment to peace, the Ukrainian leader remains hopeful the war can end this year.
