Aide to the President Yury Ushakov: Colleagues, half an hour ago, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Donald Trump, at the US President’s initiative. The President of Russia expressed his heartfelt gratitude to his US counterpart for the hospitality and great organisation of the summit in Alaska, as well as for the progress they were able to achieve towards bringing about a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis.
The President of the United States informed his Russian counterpart about the talks he had just concluded at the White House with Vladimir Zelensky and leaders of several European countries. In the course of the telephone conversation, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump reaffirmed their commitment to continuing direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
In this connection, they discussed, among other things, the prospect of exploring opportunities for drawing higher ranking officials from both Ukraine and Russia into these direct talks.
It is significant that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agreed to keep in touch on the Ukrainian issue and other urgent international and bilateral matters.
The President of Russia highlighted the importance of Donald Trump’s personal efforts and commitment to finding solutions for a lasting settlement in Ukraine.
The conversation was quite frank and constructive.