US president says phone call with Russian leader won’t lead to ‘immediate peace’ as Moscow rules out ceasefire

Donald Trump has spoken for more than an hour with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, but he conceded the talks would not lead “to immediate peace” in Ukraine, and warned that Russia would respond to Ukraine’s successful attacks this week on its airfields.

The US president, who repeatedly claimed he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours during his election campaign, did not attempt to discourage the Russian leader from retaliation, according to his description of the discussion on his Truth Social platform. He noted instead that Putin had offered to participate in US talks with Iran about its nuclear programme, which Trump claimed Tehran had been “slowwalking”.