🔸Donald Trump on Wednesday, 18 Shahrivar, before leaving for Dallas to attend the Republican Party summit, told reporters that earlier this week he had an “excellent” conversation with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and that Putin wants to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

🔸The U.S. president, about his call with Putin, said: “He wants a deal, and if [Volodymyr] Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, also wants a deal, that would be very good.”

🔸Shortly after the return of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his representatives, from a diplomatic trip to Moscow and Kyiv, Trump spoke with Putin by phone. The Kremlin also reported on Tuesday that the heads of state of the United States and Russia had a phone call.

🔸The two, who are responsible for most of the main peace negotiations on the U.S. side, discussed possible proposals for ending the war.

🔸Last month, John Ratcliffe, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, also met with Russian intelligence officials in Moscow; one of the aims of the visit was to encourage Russian officials to end the country’s invasion.