President Donald Trump projected confidence that a resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war would come “relatively quickly” after a phone call with President Vladimir Putin Wednesday in which the two leaders discussed their nation’s respective conflicts with Kyiv and Tehran.
“I think he’d like to see a solution,” Trump told reporters in an Oval Office press conference. “I can tell you. And that’s good.”
Both men are facing difficulties in their country’s respective wars. Russian troops are mired in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, with Ukrainian drones shelling key energy infrastructure. In light of the fighting, Putin scaled back the country’s famed annual Victory Day parade set for May 9. The imposing tanks that annually proceed through Moscow’s Red Square will not be a part of the festivities this year. Trump, meanwhile, has struggled to articulate his vision for the war with Iran, as rising gas prices threaten to undermine Republicans’ affordability message ahead of the coming midterm elections.
In the call, Putin told Trump about plans to call a temporary ceasefire to mark the celebration, according to TASS, a Russian state media organization. Trump teased word of the pause in fighting in his press conference.
“I suggested a little bit of a ceasefire, and I think he might do that,” Trump told reporters. “He might announce something having to do with it.”
Putin also expressed a desire to play an active role in Iran, Trump said, which he quickly rebuffed.
“He told me he’d like to be involved with the enrichment if he can help us get it,” Trump told reporters. “I said, I’d much rather have you be involved with ending the war with Ukraine. To me, that would be more important.”
Trump floated the possibility that the Iran war could wind down “on a similar timetable” as Russia’s now four-year-long incursion in Ukraine. In the meantime, conversations to end the fighting are ongoing, he said.
“They’ve come a long way,” he said of the Iranians. “The question is whether or not they’re going to go far enough. So at this moment, there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons.”