Another Trump-Putin call, no breakthrough – and a Pentagon warning

Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Tuesday that he wanted a swift end to the ‌war in Ukraine, which would allow U.S.-Russia ties to be fully restored, the Kremlin said, adding that Putin had supported the U.S. president’s view.

The call, which the Kremlin said lasted an hour, followed a weekend visit to Moscow and Kyiv by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are trying to revive stalled talks designed to find a way to end the fighting.

Their weekend diplomacy did not appear to result in any immediate public breakthrough although they did raise the possibility that three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States ⁠could be resumed. The Kremlin, which has said it does not rule that out, made no mention of the possibility in its readout of the Putin-Trump call.

Instead, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the two leaders had rated the U.S. envoys’ weekend diplomacy “with a plus sign” and that Putin had told Trump what he believed the United States could do to help end the conflict and given him an assessment of what the situation on the battlefield was.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked about the envoys’ trip, said Moscow “does not rule out” a return to the trilateral format Kushner floated in Kyiv, but that it was “too early” to speak of place or timing. He would not discuss the substance of U.S. proposals or the hardest remaining issues.

Peskov said Moscow had not even received a readout of the Kyiv meetings.

The Kremlin’s account of the Putin-Trump call was familiar: Trump wanted a fast end to the war and restored U.S.–Russia ties; Putin “supported this approach” and told Trump what Washington could do to finish the fighting on Moscow’s reading of the front.

Putin’s line has not moved. After the Moscow session, aide Yuri Ushakov said the Russian president told the Americans that Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield, was confident of its military aims, and still required that “all the root causes of the conflict” be addressed – Kremlin language for demands Kyiv treats as capitulation: territory, limits on Ukraine’s armed forces, no NATO path. Donetsk and Luhansk remain a core sticking point. Ukraine will not hand over land it still holds. Russia will not accept a ceasefire on the current line as an end-state. Treating Peskov’s “we do not rule it out” as momentum repeats the Russian script: appear available, concede nothing, keep firing.

That is the context for Ramstein on 8 September. Elbridge Colby, U.S. under secretary of defence for policy, told the Ukraine Defence Contact Group that Russia is reconstituting its forces and defence industry. “We must be ready for a protracted conflict and for Ukraine’s needs to persist in the coming months and years,” he said. Europe, he added, must keep and if necessary increase support for Ukraine’s immediate battlefield needs through the PURL mechanism – NATO countries buying U.S. weapons for Kyiv – and plan stable purchases now, for Ukraine’s long-term force and for Europe’s own rearmament. “Constant supply of ammunition and critical capabilities remains extremely important so Ukrainian forces can hold the line and prevent further Russian advances.” Those commitments, he said, have to become consistent action. Ukraine’s defence minister, Yevhenii Khmara, put the defence-budget gap at €23 billion and said Kyiv would contract about a thousand Patriot missiles on an EU loan, most of them arriving only over coming years. Germany said it would send PAC-2 interceptors from Bundeswehr stocks.

The two stories belong together. One is a spokesman declining to close a door he never opened. The other is a U.S. official telling allies to fund a war measured in years. Putin can praise Trump and sit for another call. He is not bargaining for a settlement Ukraine can live with. He is bargaining for time and for Ukraine’s surrender. Prepare for the conflict that is actually happening.

With Reuters and Suspilne, edited by g.g.

Caption: US President Donald J Trump exits the stage following his remarks at a Steel Across America Event on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, USA, 08 September 2026. EPA/ANNABELLE GORDON / POOL