Putin tells Trump that Russia “will not give up his goals” in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday to his American counterpart Donald Trump, during a telephone conversation, that Russia “will not give up his goals” in Ukraine, while saying that he is open in pursuit of negotiations with kyiv.

This discussion between the two men, the sixth since the return of the Republican to the White House, intervened the day after Washington’s announcement of the stop of the delivery of certain weapons to Ukraine, more than three and a half years after the start of the Russian offensive.

This decision of its main supplier in military equipment risks putting kyiv in a difficult position at a time when Russian troops continue to move on the front.

On the move to Denmark Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Europeans to increase their support in the face of what is akin to American disengagement.

The exchange between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on Thursday, which lasted about an hour, was qualified before the journalists as franc by the diplomatic advisor to the Kremlin, Iouri Ouchakov.

They mentioned the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East, as well as the relations between their two countries.

On Ukraine, Vladimir Putin told his counterpart that Russia continues to seek a political and negotiated solution to the conflictOuchakov told journalists.

The Russian leader has underlined the will of the Russian party to continue the negotiation process Started in Istanbul, where two sessions of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks took place with meager results.

Our president also declared that Russia would pursue its objectives, namely the elimination of well -known deep causes which led to the current situationcontinued Mr. Ouchakov.

And Russia will not give up these objectiveshe added.

Moscow claims in particular from Ukraine that it gives up to him four partially occupied regions, in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014, and that it renounces to integrate theTake. Unacceptable conditions for kyiv.

MM. Putin and Trump also mentioned conflicts in the Middle East, including the recent war between Iran and Israel, the Russian President having argued for a regulation exclusively by political and diplomatic meansaccording to Mr. Ouchakov.

The two leaders have confirmed their mutual interest in the implementation of a series of promising economic projects, especially in the fields of energy and space researchhe said.

Return of the pendulum

Donald Trump has since returned to power an unexpected rapprochement with Moscow, taking over contact with Mr. Putin and sometimes going so far as to bring responsibility for the current situation to Ukraine.

Trump had recently said he was frustrated by the lack of progress to find a way out of this conflict which he had promised to settle quickly.

On Tuesday, it was French president Emmanuel Macron who spoke on the phone with Vladimir Putin, for the first time since 2022, against politics aimed at isolating the master of the Kremlin advocated by Europeans.

kyiv and his Western allies have been asking for a ceasefire in Ukraine for months, to whom Moscow refuses, who believes that a break in the fighting would give Ukrainians the possibility of rearmous thanks to Western deliveries.

Mr. Zelensky, who had previously called Donald Trump to change your tone with Russia and imposing new sanctions on it, said on Thursday that doubt hovered over on the continuation of American support for Europe.

He thus urged strengthen our cooperation and coordination within theUE andTaketwo organizations that Ukraine aims to join.

In this context, the Ukrainian head of state said he hoped to speak with Mr. Trump Tomorrow or in the coming days.

A telephone conversation is being prepared, we hope it will take place on Friday but it all depends on the agenda of the two presidentsfor his part declared to theAFP A senior Ukrainian official who requested anonymity.

On the ground, bombing and fighting continued on Thursday. Eight people were killed and a dozen others, injured in several Russian strikes, notably in the city of Poltava, where an army recruitment center was affected, and in Odessa, a large port on the Black Sea, Ukrainian officials announced.

On the Russian side, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, strikes of Ukrainian drones killed one and two injured in the Russian region of Lipetsk, about 400 kilometers southeast of Moscow, according to local authorities.

Drones have also caused a fire on the site of a company in the city of Ielets – in the same region where several industrial complexes are located – without making victims.

The Russian army, which occupies about 20 % of the Ukrainian territory, claimed Thursday the capture of Milové, a border locality in the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv (northeast). This advance opens up a new angle of attack in this area which has not experienced movements for many months.