July 5 - Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said early on Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation lasting nearly 90 minutes in which Trump offered to help find a solution to the war in Ukraine.
Ushakov framed the offer in the context of Mr. Trump's upcoming attendance at a NATO summit in Turkey next week, saying the American president had reiterated his readiness "to work towards a rapid end to the fighting and find solutions to overcome the crisis." According to Ushakov, the Russian position remains focused on "a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict, with due account of Russia’s fundamental approach."
The Kremlin aide also leveled criticism at Kyiv and its European partners, accusing them of "counting on extending and even escalating the conflict, and on terrorism against civilians." Ushakov's remarks linked this accusation to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russian targets, which he said are mainly connected to the oil industry.
Ushakov quoted President Trump as saying that Washington’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, would continue their mediation efforts and were willing to make another trip to Moscow to advance a negotiated solution.
On the military situation, Ushakov cited President Putin as describing "the real situation on the battlefield where the Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one locality after another." The Kremlin account said Russian commanders told Putin on Friday that Moscow’s troops had seized the strategically important city of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine.
That claim, however, was disputed. On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ukraine’s General Staff rejected the Russian assertion, stating Kyiv’s forces still held control of the city.
The exchange of competing claims over Kostiantynivka and the Kremlin's public portrayal of the call underscore the continuing fog around battlefield reports and diplomatic maneuvers. Ushakov's account highlights three threads from the call: a U.S. offer to help broker talks, Moscow's stated preference for a political-diplomatic settlement consistent with its stated approach, and sharply divergent narratives about control of contested territory.