Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that he can “neither confirm nor deny” a US newspaper report that there was a telephone conversation between the US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Washington and Moscow have not officially confirmed any communication between the two leaders since Trump took office, who has promised to quickly end the war in Ukraine.

The New York Post reported in a story late last Saturday night that Trump told the newspaper that he had a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

In an interview from the presidential aircraft Air Force One on Friday, Trump also told the New York Post that it’s “better not to say” when asked how many times they have spoken with Putin. “He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying,” Trump noted to the newspaper.

The White House has so far not responded to a Reuters request made out of hours for comment on the matter. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s official TASS news agency that he could neither confirm nor deny that there had been talks.

“What can I say regarding this information? As the government in Washington develops its work, many different communications arise. And those communications go through different channels,” he explained.

“And certainly because of these many communications, I personally may not know something, may not be aware of something. Therefore, in this case, I can neither confirm nor deny this information,” the Kremlin spokesman added.

Peskov has previously denied repeatedly reports of phone conversations between the two leaders before Trump’s return to the White House.

In late January, the Kremlin spokesman had also said in addition that Putin was ready to have telephone communication with Trump and that Moscow was waiting for news from Washington that it too was ready.

On Friday, Trump said he is likely to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week to discuss ending the war.

The war, which erupted with the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, turns three years old on February 24. Thousands of people, the vast majority of them Ukrainians, have been killed in the conflict.

The US president also told the New York Post that he has always had a good relationship with Putin and that he has a concrete plan to end the war. However, he did not elaborate further.

“I hope it will happen quickly, he said. “Every day people are dying. This war in Ukraine is so bad. I want to end this damn thing,” the U.S. president stressed.