Trump told journalists about a secret call to Putin: what the presidents talked about for the third time in June

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he spoke again yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged him to first “deal with Russia” and end the war in Ukraine before offering to mediate in the Middle East.

Trump made this comment during a conversation with journalists.

“I spoke with him yesterday—he actually offered to help as a mediator. I told him: do me a favor—be a mediator in your own country. Let’s focus on Russia first, okay? I said: Vladimir, let’s deal with Russia first. You can work on the other stuff later. But I think things will get resolved there [in Ukraine], and we’ll be able to sort that out too. Though, yes, many people have died,” the U.S. president said.

There had been no prior reports of a conversation between the two leaders yesterday. Unless there were other undisclosed calls, this marks the sixth phone conversation between Trump and Putin since Trump was re-elected, and the third one in June.

As a reminder, Trump and Putin also spoke on Saturday—Trump’s birthday. During that call, Trump expressed interest in ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict as soon as possible. Putin reiterated his willingness to continue negotiations with Ukraine after June 22 and informed Trump about the status of ongoing prisoner exchanges with Kyiv. The two leaders also discussed the situation in the Middle East.