Trump, Putin to speak on ending Ukraine war today

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump will speak by phone on Tuesday, as one US official expressed hope the two could agree a Ukraine ceasefire within weeks.

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Trump said earlier "a lot of work" had been done between the United States and Russia on settling the three-year Ukraine conflict, and that there was a "very good chance" hostilities would end.

Putin said last week he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire but warned he had "serious questions" about how it would be implemented that he wanted to discuss with Trump.

Kyiv has agreed to the ceasefire, while its European allies have criticised Putin for not committing to an unconditional and immediate halt in fighting, with the UK accusing the Russian leader of "dragging his feet".

"There is such a conversation being prepared for Tuesday," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP ahead of the Trump-Putin call, without commenting on what the two leaders would discuss.

Trump said the two would discuss "land" and power plants: an apparent reference to the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in south Ukraine.