US President Donald Trump has conversed with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about putting an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
This is the first time Putin and a US president had spoken directly since early 2022, reported by Reuters citing the New York Post.
Trump claimed last week that his team had "some very good talks" and that the war in Ukraine was a bloodbath. Trump has pledged to stop the conflict, but he has not yet publicly said how he will do so.
When asked how many times he and Putin had spoken, Trump gave the New York Post the response, "better not say," during an interview on Friday aboard Air Force One.
Trump said: "He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying." A request for response outside of regular business hours was not answered by the White House.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that "many different communications are emerging" to the state news agency TASS.
Peskov said: "These communications are conducted through different channels," when TASS asked him directly about the New York Post claim. "I might not be aware of something or know something myself. I am therefore unable to confirm or refute it in this instance."
After Russia annexed Crimea and a pro-Russian president was overthrown in the Maidan Revolution in 2014, the conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out, with Russian-backed separatist groups battling Ukraine's military.
In 2022, Putin dispatched thousands of troops into Ukraine, claiming it was a "special military operation" to defend Russian speakers there and thwart what he claimed was a serious threat to Russia from Ukraine joining Nato.
Ukraine declared the invasion to be an imperial-style territory grab and pledged to defeat Russian forces, as did its Western allies, including the United States.
Moscow is moving more quickly than it has since the beginning of the 2022 invasion and already occupies a portion of Ukraine roughly the size of the US state of Virginia.
Trump, who wrote the book "Trump: the Art of the Deal" in 1987, has stated time and time again that he wants to stop the war and that he will meet with Putin to discuss it; however, the location and date of the summit are still unknown.
Putin outlined his initial demands for an immediate end to the conflict on June 14: Ukraine must give up its aspirations to join Nato and remove its soldiers from all of the land of four Ukrainian areas that Russia claims and primarily controls.
According to a November Reuters story, Putin is amenable to talks with Trump about a peace agreement for Ukraine, but he forbids making any significant territorial concessions and demands that Kyiv give up its aspirations to join Nato.
