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Russian President Vladimir Putin called Donald Trump on Sunday to wish him a happy 80th birthday, with the two leaders using the occasion for a wide-ranging conversation on the wars in Ukraine and a potential nuclear agreement with Iran, the Kremlin said.
The call, which lasted 55 minutes, was the latest in a series of direct contacts between Moscow and Washington as efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine have stalled.
Trump again pressed for an end to hostilities in Ukraine during the call and indicated he is prepared to use his influence with both Kyiv and Washington's European partners to advance a settlement, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, who briefed reporters on the conversation citing TASS.
Putin, for his part, told Trump that Ukrainian strikes on civilian infrastructure inside Russia would not alter the trajectory of the war on the battlefield.
The Russian leader also reiterated a longstanding condition: that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, should he seek a direct meeting, would have to come to Moscow. Zelenskyy and Trump separately held a phone call on the same day, and the Ukrainian president later announced the two had agreed to meet at the upcoming G7 summit.
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The leaders also discussed the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Trump told Putin that a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran was close to completion and that an announcement could come as early as Sunday, Ushakov said. Iran has continued to publicly deny that a deal is imminent, and no formal agreement had been announced as of the call.
Beyond the substance of the two conflicts, Trump and Putin agreed that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Russia again in the near future, signaling that the backchannel diplomatic track between the two governments remains active.
Ushakov described the call as friendly and frank, and noted that Putin "highly praised" Melania Trump's role in reuniting Russian and Ukrainian children with their families, a reference to an issue that has drawn international attention since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump reportedly told Putin he was the first foreign leader to reach him on his birthday.
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