Trump claims talks with Putin, Zelenskiy
- U.S. President Donald Trump said April 26 he has had “good conversations” with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy about ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. - Trump gave no dates for either call and said the “hatred” between Putin and Zelenskiy was “ridiculous” in a Fox News interview. - The comments landed as fighting continued, including a reported Ukrainian strike on a Russian radar in Belgorod. (reuters.com) (ukrinform.net)
President Donald Trump said on April 26 that he has had “good conversations” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as he pushes for a deal to end the war. (reuters.com) (usnews.com) Speaking on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing,” Trump said, “We’re working on the Russia situation, Russia and Ukraine, and hopefully we’re going to get it.” He did not say when either conversation took place. (reuters.com) (kfgo.com) Trump also said the “hatred between President Putin and President Zelenskiy is ridiculous” and called it “crazy.” Reuters reported that he declined to reveal when he had last spoken with Putin. (reuters.com) (thehindu.com) The remarks added a new public claim of contact with both wartime leaders, but they did not come with a ceasefire date, a summit announcement, or any published negotiating text. Reuters’ account of the interview included none of those specifics. (reuters.com) (srnnews.com) The gap between diplomacy talk and battlefield reality was visible the same day. Ukrinform reported that crews from Ukraine’s 429th Separate Regiment of Unmanned Systems “Achilles” struck a Russian Kasta-2E radar station in Volotovo, in Russia’s Belgorod region. (ukrinform.net) According to Ukrinform, brigade commander Yurii Fedorenko said the radar site was about 80 kilometers, or roughly 50 miles, from the Ukrainian border. Ukrinform also said Ukrainian forces had struck a Nebo-M radar station in Belgorod region on April 16. (ukrinform.net) That left two tracks running at once on April 26 and April 27: Trump publicly describing contacts with Putin and Zelenskiy, and Ukraine reporting another long-range strike inside Russian territory. Neither development, on its own, showed a settlement was close. (reuters.com) (ukrinform.net) For now, the clearest new fact is narrow: Trump says he is still talking to both men, while the war he says he wants to stop is still producing fresh targets and fresh strikes. (reuters.com) (ukrinform.net)
