Trump made ‘no progress at all’ in phone call with Putin

Moscow continues strikes on Kyiv following hour-long talk

- ANDREW FEINBERG IN WASHINGTON DC

US president Donald Trump said last night that a phone call earlier in the day with Vladimir Putin resulted in no progress at all on efforts to end the war in Ukraine, while a Kremlin aide said the Russian president reiterated that Moscow would keep pushing to solve the conflict’s “root causes”.

“Root causes” has become Russian shorthand for the issue of Nato enlargement and Western support for Ukraine, including the rejection of any possibility of Ukraine joining the security alliance.

The two leaders did not discuss a recent pause in some US weapons shipments to Kyiv during the nearly hour-long conversation, according to a readout provided by Putin aide Yuri Ushakov. US attempts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine through diplomacy have largely stalled, and Mr Trump has come under increased pressure — including from some Republicans - to increase pressure on Putin to negotiate in earnest.

“T didn’t make any progress with him at all,” Mr Trump told reporters in brief comments at an air base outside Washington, before departing for an event in Iowa.

Within hours of the call’s conclusion, an apparent Russian drone attack sparked a fire in an apartment building in a northern suburb of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said, indicating little change in the trajectory of the conflict.

In Kyiv itself, Reuters witnesses reported explosions and sustained heavy machine-gun fire as air defence units battled drones over the capital, while Russian shelling killed five in the eastern part of the country.