Zelensky to Trump: “real prospect” of ending the war depends on U.S. position

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a phone call with his American counterpart Donald Trump, during which the two sides discussed the situation at the front and the prospects for ending the fighting. Zelensky wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

According to the Ukrainian president, the conversation went “very well.” Zelensky congratulated Trump and Americans on Independence Day and thanked the United States for its assistance in defending Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Speaking about the situation at the front, Zelensky declared a “real prospect” of ending the fighting, but stressed that the position of the United States is decisive in this regard. The leaders agreed to continue their conversation in person — on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.

Shortly before the phone call, both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Trump congratulatory telegrams on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence. In his message, Zelensky thanked Washington for supplying Javelin anti-tank missile systems and Patriot air defense missile systems, and also noted that the United States in the 20th century “helped save the world from the rule of tyrants.”

In his telegram, Putin recalled that the signing of the Declaration of Independence marked the beginning of the American state, and that Russia had once supported the North American colonists in their aspiration “for freedom from British rule.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov promised to announce if a phone call takes place between Putin and Trump.