Little progress on Ukraine deal: Kremlin on Trump-Putin call

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed Ukraine in phone talks on Thursday, with the Kremlin indicating that little progress was made in the US president's efforts to bring an end to the war.

- Bloomberg

"Donald Trump once again raised the question of an early cessation of hostilities," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Thursday after the call that lasted almost one hour. Putin said Russia "will not back down" from its war aims, Ushakov added.

He described the conversation as "frank, businesslike and concrete", adding that the leaders agreed to continue their communication soon. Putin and Trump also discussed Iran and the situation in the Middle East "in considerable detail", Ushakov said. There was no discussion of a meeting between the two leaders, and they didn't touch on the US decision to halt weapons supplies to Ukraine, he said.