MOSCOW / WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump on Monday evening, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.
“President Trump called President Putin to discuss a number of critically important topics related to current developments in the international situation,” Ushakov told the media following the phone conversation.
He said the conversation focused on the Iran conflict and the trilateral negotiations on a Ukraine settlement.
He described the conversation as “businesslike, frank and constructive.”
Trump reiterated his interest in seeing the Ukraine conflict end quickly with a ceasefire to achieve a long-term settlement, Ushakov said.
The two presidents have not spoken by phone for a long time and agreed to communicate with each other on a regular basis, he added.
Putin expressed a number of considerations aimed at the earliest political and diplomatic settlement of the Iran conflict, including taking stock of the contacts held with the leaders of the Persian Gulf countries, Iran’s president, and the leaders of other countries.
The US president provided his assessment of the evolving situation in the context of the ongoing US-Israeli operation.
Ushakov said Trump once again expressed his interest in seeing the conflict in Ukraine end with the earliest possible establishment of a ceasefire to achieve a long-term settlement.
Putin provided an account of the current developments on the combat front, where Russian troops are advancing very successfully. “This is a factor that should encourage Kyiv to finally embark on the path of a negotiated settlement of the conflict,” Ushakov noted.
The presidents also discussed the issue of Venezuela, primarily in the context of the current state of the global oil market.
“Overall, I repeat that the conversation was very substantive and will undoubtedly be of practical importance for the further cooperation between the two countries in various areas of international policy,” the presidential aide added.
Ushakov said that the previous phone call between Putin and Trump was in late December 2025.
Trump says Putin “wants to be helpful” in Mideast
US President Donald Trump said he had a “very good” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine crisis and the US-Israeli war with Iran on Monday, saying his Russian counterpart “wants to be helpful” in the Middle East.
“We had a very good talk and he wants to be very constructive,” Trump said at a press conference in Florida.
Trump said they discussed the fight between Russia and Ukraine, which enters its fifth year now, during their first phone call since US and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb 28.
It was a “positive call on that subject,” said Trump.
Earlier on Monday, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov described the conversation between the two leaders as “frank and businesslike” and said it lasted about one hour.
Ushakov said the Russian president “voiced a few ideas aimed at a quick political and diplomatic settlement” of the conflict following his conversations with Gulf leaders and Iran’s president, while Trump offered his assessment of the developing situation.
The two leaders also touched on Venezuela “in the context of the situation in the global oil market,” said Ushakov.
Also on Monday, Putin said that Russia has “repeatedly warned that attempts to destabilize the situation in the Middle East will inevitably jeopardize” the global energy market, raising prices and limiting supplies.
Russia downs 163 Ukrainian drones
Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 163 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.
According to the ministry, the drones were shot down between 11:00 pm local time (2000 GMT) on Sunday and 7:00 am (0400 GMT) on Monday.
Fifty-four were downed over the Bryansk region and 47 over Crimea, it said, noting that another 16 drones were intercepted over the Krasnodar region and 11 over the Kaluga region.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Sunday that Russian air defense also downed six drones heading toward Moscow.