US White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in her press briefing on March 19, said that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that the Russia-Ukraine conflict needs to end and also underlined the importance of better bilateral relations between the two nations.
Leavitt stated that Trump also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address his concerns and requests.
“Yesterday President Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace and also stressed the need for improved bilateral relations between the US and Russia,” Leavitt said.
“President Trump also spoke with President Zelenskyy this morning to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their needs and requests,” she added.
Leavitt further said that Trump highlighted the fact that resources spent on the war could be better utilised for the well-being of the citizens of both nations.
“As President Trump has said repeatedly, the precious lives and money that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people. This terrible conflict would have never started with President Trump in charge. But he is determined to end it once and for all,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia exchanged aerial assaults overnight, just hours after the Kremlin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy infrastructure targets. However, Moscow stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire sought by the US, CNN reported.
Putin announced the halt on energy infrastructure attacks on Tuesday following his lengthy call with Trump. “Vladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the Russian military the corresponding order,” a Kremlin readout stated, as per CNN.
“I can say with a high degree of confidence that Presidents Putin and Trump understand each other well, trust each other, and intend to gradually move towards normalising Russian-American relations,” Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, as per CNN, following the phone conversation between the leaders.
(With inputs from ANI)
