Russian President Vladimir Putin held an “extremely frank” and “constructive” hour-long phone call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Sept. 8, even as Russian strikes continued nationwide and the death toll in overnight strikes on Kyiv rose to five.
The two leaders “focused on the issue of a settlement in Ukraine,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, including AFP. Putin gave what Ushakov described as an “objective and detailed analysis” of the frontline situation, “pointing out what the Americans could realistically do to bring the hostilities to a swift conclusion.”
Putin reportedly also stressed that Russia had “no aggressive plans” toward Europe.
Neither the White House nor Trump had issued a readout of the call at the time of the report.
Diplomacy collides with renewed attacks
The call followed weekend discussions with government officials and senior US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who traveled to both Moscow and Kyiv in an effort to revive stalled diplomacy and broker an end to Russia’s war.
However, despite the three-day ceasefire that Putin announced on Saturday, Sept. 5, explosions have continued across Ukraine, including near Kyiv.
On Saturday afternoon, after Kyiv city authorities issued an air raid warning at 3:03 p.m., explosions were heard near the suburb of Boryspil. Several air raid warnings were issued on that same day, and were lasting for hours at a time.
A massive Russian barrage began on the evening of Monday, Sept. 7 and continued throughout Tuesday. Russia launched Oniks anti-ship missiles, Iskander-M, S-400 and North Korean-made KN-23 ballistic missiles, as well as 32 Kh-101 cruise missiles and 166 Shahed attack drones.
“Enemy shelling has continued nonstop since last night,” Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) said.
Russian forces also struck a building of the “We Are Ukraine” TV channel in Kyiv while journalists were on air, partially destroying the facility and injuring at least five people.
“‘Shaheds’ against the media is a new page of Russian degradation, and there must definitely be a reaction from Europe and the world to this,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, using the Ukrainian term for Russia’s Iranian designed attack drones.
Kremlin signals openness to talks with no signs of common ground
The attacks intensified even as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Russia expects trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US to resume, telling Indian media ahead of the BRICS summit in New Delhi that Moscow is “open to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
Peskov also claimed that Kyiv does not want the war to end, saying that “if it did, the war would have ended long ago.”
Separately, the Kremlin objected to involvement of E3 national security advisers – France, the United Kingdom and Germany – in the trilateral meetings.
“This is more likely to complicate the negotiation process,” Peskov said, according to Ukrainska Pravda. “Because, unlike the Americans, the Europeans are doing everything they can to prevent this war from ending.”
According to AFP, Zelensky said Russian, Ukrainian, and US negotiators could meet as early as this month for talks aimed at ending the war. “If all sides agree, we also want to hold it in the fall. If September works out, then it would be great. The earlier, the better.”
However, several previous rounds of negotiations have failed, and given Russia’s repeated strikes on Ukraine – trust remains critically low, with no tangible signs that Moscow has shifted its diplomatic position.
“The moment the US president’s peace envoys left, Putin launched another massive, horrific attack against Kyiv,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a statement on X.
“His [Putin’s] ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy. Strike after strike on residential buildings,” he continued.
Despite ongoing efforts to keep the momentum of peace negotiations going, Moscow continues demanding Ukraine cede territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as renounce Western military support.
Kyiv has repeatedly stated such terms amount to capitulation and would only allow Russia to prepare a new attack in a bid to install a Moscow-friendly government.