Trump holds ‘very friendly' 90-minute call with Putin: What was decided?

The United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a 90-minute phone call on Friday that the Kremlin described as “very substantive and friendly.”

The call had been described as so friendly that neither leader apparently wanted to hang up first.

According to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, the two presidents ended the call at almost exactly the same moment. “Neither wanted to be the first to hang up,” he said.

The conversation between the two world leaders was focused on some of the biggest issues between Washington and Moscow.

The most immediate outcome was an agreement for Russia to supply diesel to the United States and wider global markets in an effort to lower fuel prices. That deal was followed by a temporary easing of some U.S. sanctions on Russian fuel, a move that quickly drew criticism from Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the decision “weak” and argued that buying more Russian energy would ultimately help finance Moscow’s war effort.

Most of the Trump-Putin call, however, focused on attempts to end the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin said both sides discussed possible ways forward, although Putin played down the chances of three-way peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States resuming anytime soon. That remains one of the biggest obstacles. 

Peace efforts have repeatedly stalled over territory, particularly Russia’s demand for control over four Ukrainian regions that Moscow does not fully occupy.

At the same time, U.S., Ukrainian and European negotiators met separately in Miami on Friday as they tried to develop a common peace proposal that could eventually be presented to Moscow.

So while the tone between Trump and Putin may have been unusually warm, the underlying dispute remains largely unresolved.