Trump and Putin Discuss Trilateral Summit to End Ukraine War

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held an hour-long telephone conversation on Tuesday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Trump stated that Putin is "wanting to make a deal," though he noted that the primary obstacle to peace is that the two leaders of the warring nations "hate each other."

The leaders also discussed the possibility of a trilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, on November 18 and 19. While Russia has confirmed Putin's attendance at the summit, the White House has not yet announced if Trump will attend.

These discussions follow recent diplomatic efforts by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who visited Moscow and Kyiv over the previous weekend. Despite these visits, negotiations to end the conflict, which has now entered its fifth year, have yet to produce a breakthrough. The Kremlin described the call between Trump and Putin as "constructive and quite candid."