Trump speaks with Putin and Zelenskyy as Ukraine war escalates

Donald Trump spoke separately with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin as Russian strikes hit Ukraine again, a reminder that the phone diplomacy has not yet altered the war’s pace. The Kremlin said Trump told Putin that ending the conflict in Ukraine was vital and that he was ready to help, but the battlefield kept moving as both sides pressed ahead.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said Trump and Putin talked for 55 minutes. The Kremlin said the call also covered Iran and an upcoming visit by U.S. envoys to Russia, suggesting the conversation touched broader U.S.-Russia ties even as Ukraine remained the central issue. Trump later said he had a good conversation with both Zelenskyy and Putin and that, after focusing on Iran, his administration would turn to Ukraine.

The immediate test of any diplomatic opening came from the war itself. Russian strikes over the weekend and into Monday killed at least 11 people and damaged the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex, including the Dormition Cathedral, one of Kyiv’s most significant religious sites. Ukrainian officials said five rescuers were killed in Kharkiv in a so-called double-tap strike, and at least 13 people were wounded in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Monday that he had offered to meet Putin at the G7 summit in France for direct talks, but said the Russian leader was not ready to speak. The summit, scheduled to discuss the war on Tuesday, June 16, is now shaping up as another moment for leaders to measure whether Washington can translate contacts with Moscow into any practical restraint on the fighting.

So far, the leverage question remains unanswered. Ukraine has continued long-range strikes on military and energy sites inside Russia, while Kyiv says Russia has responded with a major attack involving hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles. The result is a war entering another round of active diplomacy and active escalation at the same time, with little evidence that the calls alone have shifted the trajectory on the ground.