US President Donald Trump with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin
His criticism intensified on Saturday after Russian strikes killed at least 17 people in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, including three children, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. At least 18 people were wounded after Russian aerial bombs struck residential buildings. The conversation came a day after Trump announced an agreement under which Russia would supply diesel to the US and global markets, with the stated aim of easing fuel prices.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the move, calling it a “weak decision” and “an investment in a war that must be ended”. He said the attacks showed Moscow interpreted “any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they can keep dropping bombs on cities”.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump held a “very substantive and friendly” conversation on Friday, with neither leader wanting to end the call first, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Saturday. “Neither wanted to be the first to hang up,” Ushakov said. The Kremlin said the leaders spent most of the conversation discussing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“They hung up simultaneously, literally at the same time. Putin, however, played down the prospects of resuming three-way peace talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the US in the near future.