Ukraine and Russia accused each other of launching attack drones on one another overnight, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with his US counterpart Donald Trump – and again refused an immediate ceasefire.
Russia launched 108 Shahed drones and “various types of decoy drones,” Ukraine’s Air Force said on its Telegram channel Tuesday, adding air defenses had destroyed 93 of them in the east, center and north of the country.
The strikes come after Trump and Putin spoke for nearly two hours on Monday – Trump from the Oval Office and Putin phoning in from a visit to a music school in the city of Sochi.
Following the call Trump said Kyiv and Moscow would begin ceasefire negotiations ‘immediately.’
But Putin said the Kremlin was ready to work with Ukraine on a “possible ceasefire for a certain period of time, provided the corresponding agreements are reached.”
Neither Putin nor Trump discussed a timeframe for a possible truce, said Kremlin presidential aide Yury Ushakov.
Putin has previously ignored a proposal from Washington and Kyiv for a 30-day ceasefire and last week snubbed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to meet face-to-face for talks in Istanbul.
As the Turkey talks sputtered, Trump said he didn’t think there would be a significant breakthrough on peace talks until he spoke directly with Putin.
“Unfortunately, following the Trump–Putin phone call, the status quo has not changed,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky
European leaders decided to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions after Trump briefed them on the call with Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in an X post late on Monday.
Trump said he would not join in any new sanctions on Russia “because there’s a chance” of progress.
“I think there’s a chance of getting something done, and if you do that, you could also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that’s going to happen,” Trump said.
Following the call Zelensky said discussions would take place about the future location of a further round of talks – which would be aimed first at achieving a ceasefire.
Russian state news agency TASS cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters that “so far, no specific decisions have been made regarding the location for the continuation of possible future contacts” with Ukrainian officials.
“We are primarily interested in a prompt settlement by eliminating the root causes of this conflict,” Peskov said.
“He wants Ukraine to capitulate. He wants Ukraine to disarm… to be in a position where… the Ukrainians cannot defend themselves,” said Taylor.
“That’s what Putin means when he says ‘the root causes.’”