U.S. President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone about ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported, the first known direct conversation between Putin and a U.

President Donald Trump announced in an interview published Saturday that he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Donald Trump's return to the White House has amplified speculation about negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war that began in 2022.

In an exclusive interview with The Post aboard Air Force One Friday, President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone as he is trying to negotiate with him to end the Ukraine war.

Nearly three years after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, his troops are making steady progress on the battlefield.

Trump said that he “better not say” exactly how many times he has spoken to Putin, but insisted that he has a “good relationship” with his Russian counterpart

Donald Trump has reportedly confirmed that he has talked to Vladimir Putin on the phone to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The US President said that he believes the Russian leader “does care” about the number of people being killed. “He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying,” Mr Trump told the New York Post.

That will take some doing. Putin remains uninterested in peace talks as long as Russian troops continue to gain ground in Ukraine’s east, albeit at a slow pace, and while Ukrainian forces hold seized territory in the Kursk region inside Russia, according to John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and other former officials.

Russia has declined to confirm or deny a US report of a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.