U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call on the 29th, local time, and discussed major pending issues such as a temporary cease-fire in the Ukraine war and the war with Iran for 90 minutes. Contrary to expectations that the focus would be on resolving the Middle East crisis stemming from Iran, President Trump strongly pressed Russia to end the Ukraine conflict first.
Synthesizing reports from major outlets including Reuters and Bloomberg on the 30th, President Putin said in a call with President Trump that day that he was "ready to declare a temporary cease-fire on the Ukraine front to mark Victory Day on May 9," the anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II. Meeting with reporters at the White House, President Trump said he had a "good conversation" and that he also "proposed a cease-fire in the Ukraine conflict."
However, the two leaders showed clear differences in perspective over Iran, which is threatening global security. Major outlets reported that in the call that day, President Putin proposed actively helping process enriched uranium, a core sticking point in the Iran nuclear talks.
President Trump immediately rejected this and pressed to wrap up the Ukraine conflict first. At the briefing that day, President Trump said, "I said I would much rather you (Putin) be involved in ending the war in Ukraine," adding, "What I said was that before you help the United States, I want you to end your war first." He went further, saying, "There will be no agreement of any kind unless Iran itself agrees to abandon nuclear weapons."
In response, President Putin issued a stern warning that "if the United States and Israel wage a ground war against Iran or redeploy military force, it will lead to fatal consequences for the entire international community." Yury Ushakov, the Kremlin's foreign policy aide, said, "The call lasted more than 1 hour and 30 minutes and proceeded in a relatively friendly atmosphere." Ushakov added, "President Trump said it is important to swiftly halt hostilities and showed a willingness to use all possible means."
Both the United States and Russia are experiencing accumulated military fatigue as endless wars of attrition continue in the Middle East and Ukraine, respectively. Recently, as Ukrainian drone strikes have focused on energy facilities inside Russia, Moscow, fearing a worst-case scenario, canceled the mobilization of armored units for this year's Victory Day parade for the first time in 19 years since 2007.
President Trump also faces a domestic political burden over stabilizing prices due to sharply rising oil prices. When asked by reporters about the timeline for ending the Ukraine war and the war with Iran, President Trump predicted, "It seems the two may be on a similar timetable."