US President Donald Trump has announced that he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, aboard Air Force One, Trump said:
"He (Putin) wants people to stop dying. All those deaths. Young, beautiful people. They are like your children, two million of them... and for no reason," the White House chief of staff said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could neither confirm nor deny a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
He added that Washington and Moscow are talking through different channels, the more the Trump administration is gaining activity.
"So... there might be something I don't know," Peskov said.
Trump said in the interview that he "better not say" how many times he had spoken to Putin, but spoke of a "good relationship" with his Russian counterpart.
The US president hopes Putin's war in Ukraine, which is approaching its third anniversary, will end "soon." He had previously vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office.
"I hope it's quick. Every day people are dying. This war is very bad in Ukraine. I want to end this damn thing," he told the New York Post.
Trump said earlier this week that talks to end the war had made "great progress." (A2 Televizion)
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