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US President Donald Trump announced on April 29 that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a 90-minute phone call to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The war, which Russia started in February 2022, when the country attempted to invade multiple Ukrainian border cities. In the four years that have followed, Ukraine has proven that it will not roll over quietly. As of April 2026, Russia has experienced nearly double the number of military casualties as Ukraine has. Ukrainian forces have killed more than 300,000 Russian troops, representing nearly a third of all active servicemembers from 2022. Total Russian casualties (wounded and killed) exceed 1.2 million troops. In Ukraine, Russia has only managed to dispatch 100,000 Ukrainian troops, less than a third of the country's own death toll.
‘A good talk'
The 90-minute call was the first official call between the two leaders since March 9, 2026, but Donald Trump has indicated that he and Putin speak regularly. Trump told reporters that the two had a good talk, adding that “I've known him a long time”. Trump spoke to reporters on April 29 while hosting astronauts from the recent Artemis II mission. According to Trump, he recommended that Putin sign a ‘little bit of a ceasefire', and claimed to reporters that he believes Putin will do so. Putin announced a three-day truce last year, but it went unsigned by Kyiv.
Putin offers help in Iran
A ceasefire in Ukraine was not the only topic Trump and Putin discussed. According to Trump, Putin also offered to help ‘deal with' Iran's reported stockpile of enriched uranium. Trump reportedly denied the offer, instead telling Putin he would rather end Putin's war before Putin helps with Iran.
“I said, before you help me, I want to end your war – I'd much rather have you be involved with ending the war with Ukraine.”
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov did not confirm what proposals Russia made regarding Iran, but Russia has previously offered to remove uranium from Iran and hold it in Russia. It's unsurprising that even Donald Trump, who has proved to be a staunch ally of Putin's dictatorship, doesn't want to give Russia thousands of pounds of enriched uranium. Russia already reportedly possesses the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Russia's war on Ukraine
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, at least 2 million people have been killed – mostly military personnel – and another million displaced from both sides, making it the most deadly conflict of the 21st century. The US government is pressuring Ukraine to surrender control over the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine – an area that is mostly occupied by Russian forces. Ukraine and its European allies have firmly resisted the idea of handing over land. According to Trump, conceding land is the moral thing for Ukraine to do, as “a lot of people are dying,” and that apparently multiple Ukrainian “lieutenants” and Zelenskyy's “top people” agree with the U.S. administration. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made his position clear: Ukraine is, and will always be, unwilling to concede its sovereign territory.
Donald Trump will, unfortunately, be a great factor in the solution of the war. Trump has been a long-time supporter of Putin (since 2007 when Trump sent him a congratulations letter), and a staunch critic of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskyy. Trump has repeatedly insulted Zelenskyy, as have his officials. Trump has asked Ukraine to cede land, and has called the capital Kyiv ‘mostly destroyed'. Trump implied that Ukraine should give up its fight multiple times and bend the knee to the Russian invasion. Modern Ukraine was founded on August 24, 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
