{"id":133413,"date":"2026-09-08T16:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/133413\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:24:20","slug":"putin-tells-trump-that-moscow-doesnt-have-aggressive-plans-toward-europe-kremlin-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/133413\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin tells Trump that Moscow doesn\u2019t have aggressive plans toward Europe, Kremlin says"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin assured U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call Tuesday that Moscow doesn\u2019t harbor aggressive intentions toward Europe, a senior Kremlin official said, after European officials blamed Moscow for sabotage campaigns<\/a> on their soil.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said meanwhile that U.S. envoys who visited Kyiv<\/a> presented some \u201cvery good, worthwhile ideas\u201d for ending Russia\u2019s 4 1\/2-year-old war<\/a>, adding that he hopes to meet with Trump within two weeks.<\/p>\n

But Russia remains determined to accomplish its military goals<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

The war could yet drag on for years as Russia reconstitutes its forces and its defense industry, said U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must be prepared for a protracted conflict and for Ukraine\u2019s requirements to persist in the months and years ahead,\u201d Colby told an online meeting of countries helping Ukraine.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> after a weekend truce in their capitals for the American visitors.<\/p>\n

The attacks killed at least five civilians and wounded 25 others in Kyiv, officials said, while officials from Russia reported three people killed and 13 wounded in areas it controls.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin says call between Putin and Trump was \u2018constructive\u2019<\/p>\n

Yuri Ushakov, Putin\u2019s foreign affairs adviser, said the hourlong conversation between Putin and Trump was \u201cconstructive and quite frank.\u201d Moscow has a positive view of the results of the weekend visit by Witkoff and Kushner, he added.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate White House comment on the call.<\/p>\n

Ushakov told reporters that \u201cin view of the speculation about Russia\u2019s alleged hostile intentions toward European countries, it was underlined that we don\u2019t have any aggressive plans regarding Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

That claim runs counter to European authorities\u2019 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ushakov said Putin told Trump about the combat situation in Ukraine and Russia\u2019s plans to make battlefield gains and achieve its military goals in what Moscow calls its \u201cspecial military operation,\u201d not a war. <\/p>\n

Zelenskyy aims to meet with Trump this month<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said he is counting on meeting with Trump around Sept. 20 \u2014 about the same time that the U.N. General Assembly is being held in New York. Putin isn\u2019t expected to attend.<\/p>\n

He indicated he will press Trump to provide more Patriot air defense systems<\/a> that Kyiv needs to counter Russia\u2019s ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

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Ukraine needs 300 Patriot missiles from its partners\u2019 stocks, 500 air-to-air interceptors and $2 billion for more drones, U.K. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting told the meeting of countries providing help.<\/p>\n

Also on Tuesday, the European Commission approved a loan of 3.2 billion euros ($3.7 billion) for Kyiv to purchase components for Patriot air defense systems, Ukraine\u2019s Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy thanked U.S. officials for their efforts to unblock negotiations with Russia, which have been stuck<\/a> since early this year with little progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the peace package that Kushner spoke about and the new ideas, I\u2019ll tell you frankly, there were indeed a couple of very good, worthwhile ideas,\u201d Zelenskyy said in audio messages answering reporters\u2019 questions.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is \u201cready to find a compromise\u201d on the issues of grain exports and energy, he said. Moscow and Kyiv have targeted each other\u2019s grain ships in the Black Sea, raising concerns that two of the world\u2019s major suppliers won\u2019t be able to get their produce to market. <\/p>\n

Ukraine has also battered Russian oil facilities<\/a> while Russia has pounded Ukraine\u2019s power grid<\/a> ahead of winter.<\/p>\n

Russia is confident of victory, Kremlin spokesman says<\/p>\n

Peskov said he believed \u201cvictory is very close\u201d on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very confident in our military potential,\u201d he told reporters, while insisting Russia wants to find a peaceful solution and welcomes Trump\u2019s diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n

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-kilometer (800-mile) front line, where it is pushing to capture the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, part of its industrial heartland.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussian forces will not seize Donetsk … until 2032 at their current rate of advance \u2014 if they can seize it at all,\u201d the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Sunday. \u201cThe Russian rate of advance has slowed significantly across the theater since 2025, when Russia\u2019s rate of advance had already begun to slow.\u201d<\/p>\n

With troops bogged down on the battlefield, both countries have intensified their aerial campaign of drones and missiles.<\/p>\n

Top Ukraine diplomat says \u2018horrific\u2019 attack hurts peace efforts<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s main targets in its overnight attack were Kyiv and the Odesa region of southern Ukraine, Ukraine\u2019s Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it \u201ca horrific attack\u201d and accused Putin of undermining U.S. peace efforts.<\/p>\n

Russia says it hit military-related targets<\/p>\n

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces overnight launched a massive strike on Ukrainian military industry facilities. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin assured U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2304,66,6303,4,309,2974,65177,575,1966,2063,46,6323,2065,578,28,2305,45,8085,75,2140,2064,24808,314,65176],"class_list":["post-133413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-europe","tag-dmitry-peskov","tag-donald-trump","tag-drone-warfare","tag-europe","tag-general-news","tag-international-news","tag-ivan-vyhivskyi","tag-jared-kushner","tag-kyiv","tag-military-and-defense","tag-politics","tag-russia-government","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-steve-witkoff","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-government","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-government","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-wes-streeting","tag-world-news","tag-yuri-ushakov"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}