Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump welcomes Putin’s offer of Victory Day ceasefire in ‘very good’ phone call

Donald Trump made the baseless claim that Ukraine is “militarily defeated” on Wednesday after a phone call with Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to reporters as he met with astronauts from the Artemis II mission in the Oval Office, the US president said he discussed a temporary Ukraine ceasefire to mark the anniversary of the end of World War Two next month.

He went on to claim that Kyiv had been “militarily defeated”, with no evidence. Ukraine is continuing to resist the Russian aggression across the frontline, with no significant gains made by Moscow in recent months.

“We had a good talk, I’ve known him a long time,” said Trump. The two leaders had their last publicly reported phone call on ⁠March 9, although Trump has indicated ​they ⁠speak regularly.

During a phone call with Donald Trump last night it was Vladimir Putin who proposed a temporary ceasefire to mark 9 May and the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin ⁠aide Yuri Ushakov said the telephone call lasted more than an hour and a half and was “conducted in a friendly manner, candid and business-like”.

“Trump actively supported this initiative, noting that the holiday ‌marks our common victory over Nazism in World War Two,” he said.

He ​added: “Donald Trump believes that a deal to put an end to the ‌conflict in Ukraine is already close.”

He ⁠said Putin told the US president that Russian forces in Ukraine “hold the ⁠strategic initiative and are pressing on enemy positions”.

Putin, Ushakov said, “clearly said that Kyiv was resorting to openly terrorist ‌methods by attacking civilian ​sites on Russian territory,” a reference to frequent ‌Ukrainian strikes on key infrastructure, ​particularly in Russia’s oil sector.

EU members are looking to compile a package of short-term benefits for Ukraine as the prospect of giving Kyiv fast-track full membership looks increasingly unlikely.

Interim perks could include greater market access and deeper participation in EU programmes and institutions, four diplomats told Politico.

This comes after Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea of being given “symbolic” membership of the bloc, something suggested by German chancellor Friedrich Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron.

One of the diplomats said the EU is looking at “accelerated gradual integration”, under the EU would bring Ukraine into shared markets, funding schemes and political institutions in a phased way.

Another method being pushed suggests Kyiv be given some kind of “acceding state” status to show that it is firmly on track to join the EU, Politico reported citing the Lithuanian proposal.

EU leaders in March rejected the European Commission’s “reverse enlargement” proposals that would allow Ukraine to join the bloc without completing major reforms.

“From the moment of the dinner … member states have been clear it would be very difficult to see membership in the short term,” one of the diplomats said. “But we need to have a positive offer for how we can better move forward together before then.”

Ukraine is manufacturing a surplus of up to 50 per cent of some types of weapons, president Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as part of the country’s defence cooperation with the Middle East, the Gulf, Europe and the Caucasus.

These deals include the production and supply of drones and missiles along with the technology and software, he said.

Kyiv has handed a proposal to the US for cooperation on drones, defence systems and other types of weapons for use in the air, on land and at sea, Zelensky said yesterday.

President Donald Trump couldn’t say whether the war he launched against Iran in February would end before the four-year-old Russian war against Ukraine – and even confused the two countries.

The president immediately began a question-and-answer session that veered from UFOs to a recent conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin that had focused on the Ukraine and Iran wars.

“I talked about Ukraine, and I talked a little bit about Iran. I talked about few different subjects, mostly about Ukraine, and we had a very good conversation. I think we’re going to come up with a solution relatively quickly,” he said yesterday.

Trump said Putin would “like to be involved” with resolving Iran’s possession of enriched uranium – something the United States opposes – and remarked that he’d told Putin in turn that he’d prefer he be “involved with ending the war with Ukraine”.

US president Donald Trump said he discussed a possible ceasefire in the four-year war in Ukraine in a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

He spoke after the Kremlin reported the ⁠two leaders discussed a temporary Ukraine ceasefire to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War next month.

“We had a good talk, I’ve known him a long time,” said Trump. The two leaders had their last publicly reported phone call on ⁠9 March, although Trump has indicated ​they ⁠speak regularly.

Trump, speaking to reporters as he met with astronauts from the Artemis II mission in the Oval Office, said he suggested “a little ⁠bit of a ceasefire” in the war in Ukraine in his phone call ​with ⁠the Russian leader.

“And I think ‌he might do that,” Trump said, then asked reporters whether Putin had already announced a ceasefire.

Putin announced a similar truce last year that lasted ‌three days but was not agreed with Kyiv.

Trump ‌has a history of making positive comments about Putin and sharply criticising Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for not agreeing to make a deal with Russia to end the war.

The ​European Union is considering imposing stricter conditions on ⁠its €90bn loan to Ukraine, including ⁠making ​some ⁠payouts dependent on the introduction ⁠of an unpopular ​tax ⁠change for businesses, ‌Bloomberg News reported today, ‌citing people familiar with ‌the matter.

The plan would affect ⁠€8.4bn in so-called macro-financial assistance expected to be granted this year under the ‌program, the report ​said.

A Ukrainian drone strike sparked a “massive” fire at a Russian oil refinery in Tuapse on Tuesday, as Kyiv stepped up its campaign to target a critical generator of funding for Vladimir Putin’s war chest.

It was the third attack on the Black Sea port facility in less than two weeks as the Ukrainian military sought to disrupt the Russian oil and gas industry, which accounts for a big slice of Moscow’s federal budget.

After the Ukrainian military claimed responsibility for the latest strike, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said in remarks that were broadcast on Russian television that “drone attacks against civilian ⁠infrastructure are becoming more frequent”. “The latest example is the strike against ​energy ⁠facilities in Tuapse,” he added, “which could potentially cause serious environmental consequences.”