Washington, DC: On Thursday, US President Donald Trump stated that he made no progress in his recent phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on attempts to terminate the Ukraine war.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday (US local time), Trump remarked that he and Putin had spoken about a number of topics during their phone call, including Iran and the Russia-Ukraine situation.
We had a conversation. It was a rather lengthy call. We discussed a variety of topics, including Iran, and, as you know, we talked about the conflict in Ukraine. "I'm not happy about that," Trump said.
When asked if there had been any progress on a possible agreement to resolve the Ukraine conflict, Trump said no. I didn't make any progress with him today.
During their telephonic chat, Putin emphasized that Russia would not back down from its objective of eradicating the underlying cause of the conflict in Ukraine, Al Jazeera said.
Russia will not back down, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters following Putin's call with Trump. However, he noted that Putin was willing to seek a political and negotiated resolution to the situation.
Putin emphasised that Russia aims to attain its objectives in Ukraine and to eliminate the conflict's fundamental causes, according to Ushakov. The root cause of the situation is Ukraine's desire to join NATO, which prompted Russia to invade Ukraine in 2022 in order to prevent Kyiv from joining the US-centric alliance.
According to Al Jazeera, the Trump-Putin phone call between the two leaders took place one day after the United States halted planned weapon shipments to Kyiv, including air defense missiles and precision-guided artillery.
On June 27, Putin stated that Russia would no longer participate in one-sided games with the West, according to RT. He made these comments during a press conference on the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit in Minsk.
According to RT, Putin stated that Western countries had repeatedly betrayed Russia by failing to live up to their commitments concerning NATO expansion and the resolution of the Ukraine conflict. He emphasized that NATO is using purported Russian aggressiveness to rationalize ambitions to raise defence spending to 5% of member states' GDP and expand their military presence in Europe.
"They [the West] are turning everything upside down," Putin said.
No one is talking about how we got to the Russian special military operation, he stated, emphasizing that the origins of the Ukraine conflict go back decades, when Moscow was blatantly deceived about NATO's intentions. What followed was one expansion wave after another, he said.
Putin stated that Russia's persistent security worries concerning NATO's activities were dismissed by the West. He inquired, "Isn't it aggressive behaviour? " That is exactly aggressive conduct, which the West does not want to acknowledge. The Russian president also accused Western countries of supporting separatist and terrorist organizations as long as they targeted Russia.
