KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian President Vladimir Putin assured U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call Tuesday that Moscow doesn’t harbour aggressive intentions toward Europe, a senior Kremlin official said, after European officials blamed Moscow for sabotage campaigns on their soil. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said meanwhile that U.S. envoys who visited Kyiv presented some “very good, worthwhile ideas” for ending Russia’s 4.5-year-old war, adding that he hopes to meet with Trump within two weeks. But Russia remains determined to accomplish its military goals and it believes it is close to winning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Ukrainian and western observers, however, believe that Moscow has been unable to make any significant progress on the front line. The war could yet drag on for years as Russia reconstitutes its forces and its defence industry, said U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby. “We must be prepared for a protracted conflict and for Ukraine’s requirements to persist in the months and years ahead,” Colby told an online meeting of countries helping Ukraine. U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visited Moscow and Kyiv for separate talks with Putin and Zelenskyy over the weekend. The meetings appeared to produce no substantial breakthrough on ending the fighting, and both countries resumed their deadly air war after a weekend truce in their capitals for the American visitors. The attacks killed seven people and injured 28 in Kyiv and the surrounding region, authorities said, officials from Russia reported three people killed and 13 wounded in areas it controls. The Kremlin says call between Putin and Trump was `constructive’ Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said the hour-long conversation between Putin and Trump was “constructive and quite frank.” Moscow has a positive view of the results of the weekend visit by Witkoff and Kushner, he added. There was no immediate White House comment on the call. Ushakov told reporters that “in view of the speculation about Russia’s alleged hostile intentions toward European countries, it was underlined that we don’t have any aggressive plans regarding Europe.” That claim runs counter to European authorities’ versions of recent incidents, such as the German government last week blaming Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in August using a drone laden with explosives. Ushakov said Putin told Trump about the combat situation in Ukraine and Russia’s plans to make battlefield gains and achieve its military goals in what Moscow calls its “special military operation,” not a war. Zelenskyy aims to meet with Trump this month Zelenskyy said he is counting on meeting with Trump around Sept. 20 -- about the same time that the UN General Assembly is being held in New York. Putin isn’t expected to attend. He indicated he will press Trump to provide more Patriot air defence systems that Kyiv needs to counter Russia’s ballistic missiles. Ukraine needs 300 Patriot missiles from its partners’ stocks, 500 air-to-air interceptors and US$2 billion for more drones, U.K. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting told the meeting of countries providing help. Also on Tuesday, the European Commission approved a loan of 3.2 billion euros (US$3.7 billion) for Kyiv to purchase components for Patriot air defence systems, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said on its Telegram channel. Zelenskyy thanked U.S. officials for their efforts to unblock negotiations with Russia, which have been stuck since early this year with little progress. “As for the peace package that Kushner spoke about and the new ideas, I’ll tell you frankly, there were indeed a couple of very good, worthwhile ideas,” Zelenskyy said in audio messages answering reporters’ questions. The proposals will remain under wraps for now, he said, but he expressed hope that talks involving delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. can take place in the fall. Ukraine is “ready to find a compromise” on the issues of grain exports and energy, he said. Moscow and Kyiv have targeted each other’s grain ships in the Black Sea, raising concerns that two of the world’s major suppliers won’t be able to get their produce to market. Ukraine has also battered Russian oil facilities while Russia has pounded Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter. Russia is confident of victory, Kremlin spokesman says Peskov said he believed “victory is very close” on the battlefield. “We’re very confident in our military potential,” he told reporters, while insisting Russia wants to find a peaceful solution and welcomes Trump’s diplomatic efforts. Putin has sought to portray Russia as negotiating from a position of strength. But European officials and western analysts say its bigger army is unable to make significant progress on the 1,250-kilometre (800-mile) front line, where it is pushing to capture the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, part of its industrial heartland. “Russian forces will not seize Donetsk ... until 2032 at their current rate of advance -- if they can seize it at all,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Sunday. “The Russian rate of advance has slowed significantly across the theater since 2025, when Russia’s rate of advance had already begun to slow.” With troops bogged down on the battlefield, both countries have intensified their aerial campaign of drones and missiles. Top Ukraine diplomat says `horrific’ attack hurts peace efforts Russia’s main targets in its overnight attack were Kyiv and the Odesa region of southern Ukraine, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said. Explosions were heard in Kyiv for nearly five hours, according to Vyhivskyi. More than 50 sites were damaged during the attack, including residential buildings, dormitories, schools, stores and gas stations, he said. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it “a horrific attack” and accused Putin of undermining U.S. peace efforts. Russia says it hit military-related targets The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces overnight launched a massive strike on Ukrainian military industry facilities. It provided a detailed list of its targets. They included places storing Ukrainian drones and cruise missiles, as well as transport, logistics and distribution centers for military cargo in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, the ministry said. A drone incursion is reported in Romania Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said a drone entered its territory and later crashed in neighboring Moldova east of the countries’ shared border after about 30 minutes. Two Spanish F-18 warplanes tracked its trajectory, the ministry said. Moldovan police said a drone crashed in a sunflower field outside a village in the Riscani district, causing fires but no one was injured. Ukraine neighbours both Romania and Moldova, and the countries have reported dozens of drone incidents since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. ------ By Samya Kullab Associated Press journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.
