By Steve Holland and Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he held a “great” conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, asserting that the Russian leader is eager to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
“He is wanting to make a deal, and if [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy is wanting to make a deal, that’d be very nice,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One for a trip to Dallas.
The phone call took place Tuesday, shortly after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — who are leading Washington’s peace efforts — returned from diplomatic visits to Moscow and Kyiv. The pair discussed potential frameworks to bring the conflict to a close.
Last month, CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials in Moscow, partly to press for an end to the invasion.
Despite these overtures and Trump’s optimistic characterization, intelligence officials in the United States, Ukraine, and across Europe remain skeptical that Putin is genuinely prepared to halt the war, now in its fourth year.
“The holdup is two people who hate each other,” Trump said, referring to Putin and Zelenskiy. “I think more than anything else, it’s two people that hate each other.”
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Gram Slattery; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Michelle Nichols)