Putin Tells Trump Peace Talks Unlikely Following Drone Strikes on Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated that immediate peace negotiations with Ukraine are no longer on the horizon, citing a series of drone attacks on Moscow that occurred during last month’s parliamentary elections. Speaking with US President Donald Trump on Friday, Putin stated that while Moscow remained willing to resume discussions with Kyiv once the polls concluded, the strikes rendered trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States improbable.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov elaborated on the conversation, stating that the Kyiv regime had effectively interrupted the negotiation process by targeting the capital, other cities, and polling stations on a critical electoral day. “As the president said, we will now assess when these negotiations can resume,” Ushakov added regarding the status of the trilateral dialogue.

The diplomatic setback comes as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the conflict in Ukraine as being in a dangerous stalemate and reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to securing a peace deal. Earlier in the week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed readiness to engage in trilateral discussions with the US and Russia later this month.

Beyond the stalled diplomacy, the Friday call also produced an economic agreement with significant geopolitical fallout. Donald Trump announced that Russia had agreed to supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to American and global markets. The arrangement was swiftly condemned by lawmakers in the US, European allies, and Zelenskyy, who labeled the deal a “gift to Putin.”

Zelenskyy argued that revenues from the fuel sale would directly fund Russia’s war effort against Ukraine and its citizens. “I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And that is certainly not fair,” he said in a statement. In response to the deal, a spokesperson for the United Kingdom government vowed to maintain pressure on Moscow through what it described as the toughest sanctions regime ever imposed by the UK.