By Steve Holland and Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had a “great” conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the week and that the Russian leader wanted to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
“He is wanting to make a deal, and if (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy is wanting to make a deal, that’d be very nice,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One en route to Dallas for the Republican National Convention.
Trump spoke over the phone with Putin on Tuesday, shortly after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, returned from a diplomatic swing through Moscow and Kyiv. The duo, who are in charge of most major peace negotiations for the U.S., discussed potential proposals to bring the war to a close.
Last month, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe met with intelligence officials in Moscow, in part to encourage Russian officials to end their invasion.
Despite those efforts and Trump’s statements, intelligence officials in the U.S., Ukraine and throughout Europe continue to doubt Putin is seriously interested in ending his ongoing war, now in its fourth year.
“The holdup is two people who hate each other,” Trump told reporters, referring to Putin and Zelenskiy.
“I think more than anything else, it’s two people that hate each other.”
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Gram Slattery; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Michelle Nichols )