US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 8, according to the Kremlin, at a time when Washington is intensifying diplomatic efforts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

The call took place after Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, held talks in Moscow and, for the first time, in Kyiv, with the aim of exploring whether there is scope to restart negotiations.

According to Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov, Putin presented Trump with his own approach to the peace process and conveyed his assessment of the course of the war.

Ushakov also said that the Russian president assured his American counterpart that Russia has no aggressive plans toward Europe.

“During his conversation with Putin, Trump stressed the need to end the conflict in Ukraine, which would pave the way for a major restoration of relations between Russia and the United States,” Ushakov said.

Witkoff and Kushner’s contacts

The two US envoys met with Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian leadership on September 6, one day after their talks with Putin in Moscow. The White House said that the meetings in the Russian capital included “substantive plans for the next steps,” although no specific agreement was announced.

According to people familiar with the latest negotiations who spoke to The Kyiv Independent, the US envoys presented revised proposals, but no significant progress was achieved.

According to the same sources, one of the ideas put on the table involves a mutual suspension of air strikes. Russia has so far not agreed to such a measure, apart from a limited three-day pause in attacks on the capitals during the visits of the US envoys.

Trump and Zelensky expected to speak

A US official told The Kyiv Independent on September 6 that Trump would speak with Putin after receiving a detailed briefing from his envoys. The US president is then expected to speak with Volodymyr Zelensky as well.

Following his talks with Witkoff and Kushner, the Ukrainian president assessed that the war would likely continue through the winter months, as Kyiv prepares for a new wave of Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.

So far, the most tangible development appears to be Washington’s effort to organise a new round of trilateral talks, an option that the Kremlin has not ruled out.