Russian President Vladimir Putin marked the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence with an approximately 90-minute phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, discussing the war in Ukraine and bilateral relations.
On the 5th (local time), according to TASS and Reuters, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin congratulated Trump on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence and spoke by phone.
Ushakov said, "The call lasted exactly 1 hour and 25 minutes and proceeded in a businesslike yet very constructive atmosphere."
According to Ushakov, Trump said he would continue efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Türkiye next week.
He also said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are ready to visit Moscow again to continue mediation efforts.
Ushakov said Putin conveyed his assessment of the battlefield situation in Ukraine to Trump.
The call also reportedly mentioned the U.S.-Soviet alliance during World War II.
In a separate congratulatory message released by the Kremlin, it said Putin noted that "as the world's largest nuclear powers, Russia and the United States bear a special responsibility for international security and stability," adding that "a constructive, equal and mutually beneficial relationship serves the interests not only of the two countries but also of the international community as a whole."
Trump also held a phone call the previous day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy said on X (formerly Twitter) that he discussed war issues with Trump and called it "a very good call."
Meanwhile, before the call, on the 3rd, Putin made a public visit in military uniform to a frontline support command post. It was his first public frontline visit in about six months.
After receiving a report from the military command that they had seized Kostyantynivka, a strategic stronghold in eastern Ukraine, Putin said that the more Ukraine attacks Russian civilian infrastructure, the more Russia will expand the "security buffer zone" in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
He dismissed Ukraine's recent gains as "imaginary achievements," and criticized Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian leaders as "actors."
Ukraine, however, immediately denied the claim of Kostyantynivka's fall. Zelenskyy countered Putin's claim as "another Russian lie."