WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him “very strongly” in a phone call Wednesday that he will respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airfields as the deadlock over the war drags on.
Trump said in a social media post that his lengthy call with Putin “was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”
It’s the first time Trump has weighed in on Ukraine’s daring attack inside Russia. The U.S. did not have advance notice of the operation, according to the White House, a point Trump emphasized during the call with Putin, according to Putin’s foreign affairs adviser.
President Donald Trump speaks during a summer soiree on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a cabinet meeting via videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The call comes as the U.S. leads a diplomatic push to broker a peace deal following nearly 3½ years of war.
Trump, in his post, did not say how he reacted to Putin’s promise to respond to Ukraine’s attack, but it showed none of the frustration that Trump has expressed with his Russian counterpart in recent weeks over his prolonging of the war.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said at a briefing that the two leaders characterized the call as “positive and quite productive.”
“I believe it was useful for Trump to hear our assessments of what happened,” Ushakov said, noting that the discussion of the attacks was one of the key topics.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media: “Many have spoken with Russia at various levels. But none of these talks have brought a reliable peace, or even stopped the war. Unfortunately, Putin feels impunity.”
The Ukrainian leader urged more pressure on Russia and said that Putin’s planned response “means, that with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world — to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it.”
The sentiment was echoed by top Zelenskyy adviser Andrii Yermak, who said at a briefing in Washington that Russia understands strength and doesn’t have the political will to end the war.
But that “does not mean Ukraine closed the door to continue the negotiations,” said Yermak, who was part of a Ukrainian delegation that met with lawmakers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and other officials in the U.S. this week.
Trump has repeatedly promised to end the war quickly but lost patience in recent weeks, publicly pleading with Putin to stop fighting and even saying the Russian leader “has gone absolutely CRAZY.”
Trump, however, has not committed to backing a bipartisan push to further sanction Russia.
The call was Trump’s first known talk with Putin since May 19. They also discussed, according to Trump and Ushakov, Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of Russia engaging in talks with Tehran.
It was not clear if Trump also planned to speak with Zelenskyy. The White House did not respond to a message Wednesday afternoon.
Zelenskyy and Putin weigh in on the state of talks
The Ukrainian leader earlier Wednesday dismissed Russia’s conditions for a ceasefire as “an ultimatum” and renewed his call for direct talks with Putin to break the stalemate.
Putin, however, showed no willingness to meet with Zelenskyy, expressing anger Wednesday about what he said were Ukraine’s recent “terrorist acts” on Russian rail lines in the Kursk and Bryansk regions on the countries’ border.
