Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin separately called US President Donald Trump on Sunday to congratulate him on his 80th birthday, with one conversation reported to have lasted almost twice as long as the other.
Zelensky said in a video message he had a long and detailed telephone conversation with Trump, agreeing to meet at the G7 summit starting on Monday in the French town of Évian.
Zelensky's adviser Dmytro Lytvyn earlier told journalists that the conversation lasted around 30 minutes.
"We didn’t just exchange congratulations, but also discussed many key issues: the war, its roots, diplomatic options and the positions of our partners," Zelensky said.
Trump meanwhile spent 55 minutes on the phone with Putin in what Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov called an “extremely friendly” conversation, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Trump again pressed for a halt to hostilities in Ukraine during the call, which also touched upon the Iran war and bilateral relations, according to TASS.
Putin was reported to have "emphasized" to Trump that recent Ukrainian attacks on "civilian targets on Russian territory" were complicating efforts to reach a peace settlement.
Putin said that these attacks would not alter Ukraine’s position on the battlefield. On the matter of direction negotiations, he said if Zelensky wished to speak with him, he was still welcome to come to Moscow.
Moscow also sent a congratulatory letter to Washington. It was the 13th telephone conversation between the two since Trump took office in January 2025.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than four years. Washington has been attempting for some time to broker a peace agreement between the warring parties.
Trump is planning to celebrate his birthday watching a combat sports event taking place directly in front of the White House.
