Putin and Trump discuss Ukraine in ‘extremely frank’ call

• Putin and Trump held an "extremely frank" hour-long call focusing on a settlement in Ukraine, with Trump urging a swift end and Putin explaining the front-line situation.
• Despite talks planned as early as September, fighting continues with Russia intensifying attacks on Ukrainian cities, causing civilian casualties and destruction.
• Moscow demands Ukraine cede territory and renounce Western support, while Kyiv rejects these terms as capitulation, leaving the conflict unresolved and peace uncertain.

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump on Sept 8 discussed the Ukraine conflict in an “extremely frank” and constructive hour-long phone call, the Kremlin said.

It came after US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Moscow and Kyiv over the weekend in an attempt to kickstart long-stalled US efforts to end the fighting.

Washington has been pushing for fresh face-to-face talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Kyiv says the talks could happen as early as this month, but the Kremlin on Sept 7 said it was “too early” to discuss a venue or dates.

During their call on Sept 8, Putin and Trump “focused on the issue of a settlement in Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters including AFP.

Trump called for a speedy end to the fighting, Ushakov said, while Putin presented an “objective and detailed analysis” of the front-line situation.

Putin has routinely said his troops are advancing across the entire front, with the capture of the entire eastern Donbas region a matter of time.

Putin “pointed out what the Americans could realistically do to bring the hostilities to a swift conclusion” and stressed that Russia had “no aggressive plans” towards Europe, Ushakov added.

Trump and the White House did not provide an immediate readout of the call.

‘The earlier, the better’

Russia has intensified aerial attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities in recent months.

After announcing a brief ceasefire to coincide with Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Kyiv, Moscow resumed strikes on the Ukrainian capital overnight, killing at least five people, according to Ukraine’s rescue services.

AFP reporters in Kyiv heard fresh explosions in the early hours of Sept 8, triggering fires and sending locals down into basements and metro stations for shelter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators could meet as early as this month for talks on finding an end to the war.

“If all sides agree, we also want to hold it in the autumn. If September works out, then it would be great. The earlier, the better,” he said.

Several previous rounds of negotiations have failed. Trust is low, and there is no sign that Moscow or Kyiv have shifted their positions.

“The moment the US president’s peace envoys left, Putin launched another massive, horrific attack against Kyiv,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

“His ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy.”

‘Terrifying’

Russia said it had carried out a “massive strike” on military-industrial sites, logistics hubs and storage centres in Kyiv and its suburbs.

Locals told AFP how they ran for cover as the attack started.

“It was very terrifying, we barely managed to run into the parking lot. The parking lot was shaking all over too,” Nina Kimova, 55, said, adding that her car had been “burnt to ashes”.

Civilian deaths in Ukraine are running at their highest rate since the first months of Russia’s offensive, according to statistics verified by the United Nations.

In the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian attack killed two people.

Zelensky told US news outlet Axios that the United States was pushing for a de-escalation ahead of winter and that Putin did not want to annoy Trump before the US midterm legislative elections in early November.

Russia has struck Ukraine’s energy grid each winter since launching its offensive in February 2022, cutting power and heating to millions in temperatures as low as minus 20 deg C.

The two sides appear no closer to agreeing on how the war should end.

Moscow is demanding Ukraine cede territory in its eastern Donetsk region that it still controls and renounce Western military support.

Kyiv has said such terms amount to capitulation and would only allow Russia to prepare a fresh attack in its bid to install a Moscow-friendly puppet government. AFP