President Donald Trump held a nearly hour-long phone call today with Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Trump announced the call in a Truth Social post nearly two hours before it was set to begin, he did not release any follow-up posts summarizing their discussion. In brief comments to reporters afterward, Trump said they spoke about “a lot of things including Iran” as well as “the war with Ukraine,” adding, “I’m not happy about that.” When asked if he had made any progress in the talks, Trump replied, “No, I didn’t make any progress with him today at all.”

President Donald Trump’s Truth Social Post

According to a statement from a senior Russian official, Trump began the conversation by highlighting the passage of his administration’s new flagship bill, which he called the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” covering tax, immigration, and energy reforms. Putin reportedly congratulated him and offered early Independence Day wishes. The Russian summary also described an exchange about expanding economic projects in energy and space, as well as a discussion about holding joint film projects to promote traditional values, an idea Trump was said to support.

The Russian readout described their Ukraine discussion as focused on pursuing a political solution to end hostilities. Putin, however, emphasized that Russia would not back down from achieving its goals in the conflict, describing them as necessary to eliminate the root causes of the current confrontation. The two leaders also discussed recent developments in Syria and Iran, with both sides agreeing to maintain contact through their foreign ministries and defense officials.

This conversation comes amid an escalation in the Russia–Ukraine war over the past three days. Russia has intensified air strikes, killing civilians in Odesa and Poltava, while Ukraine killed a senior Russian naval commander in a HIMARS strike on Kursk. Ukraine also carried out one of its deepest drone strikes into Russian territory, targeting a facility in Izhevsk. Meanwhile, the United States paused shipments of Patriot missiles and other critical weapons to Ukraine, citing depleted stockpiles, a move that Ukrainian officials warn could weaken their defenses at a critical moment.