Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday following a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump said that the exchange was extremely productive. Putin said that Russia also supports a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis. “This conversation has effectively taken place and lasted more than two hours. I would like to emphasise that it was both substantive and quite candid. Overall, I believe it was a very productive exchange,” he said.

Putin expressed his gratitude towards the US for attempting to sort the Ukraine-Russia issue. “I expressed my gratitude to the US President for the support provided by the US in facilitating the resumption of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine aimed at potentially reaching a peace agreement and resuming the talks which, as we know, were thwarted by the Ukrainian side in 2022,” he said.