MOSCOW, September 11 — Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call on Tuesday that Moscow has no aggressive intentions toward Europe, according to a senior Kremlin official, a claim that runs directly counter to assessments made by European governments in recent days.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, described the hourlong conversation between the two leaders as “constructive and quite frank.” Speaking to reporters, Ushakov said the Russian side used the call to push back against what it called speculation about Moscow’s alleged hostile intentions toward European countries. “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,” Ushakov said.
The call came after European officials blamed Moscow for sabotage campaigns on their soil. The German government last week blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in August using a drone laden with explosives. The Kremlin’s denial will be weighed in European capitals against that finding and others.
No White House Response
There was no immediate White House comment on the call. Ushakov said Moscow took a positive view of the results of the weekend visit by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who travelled to Moscow and Kyiv for separate talks with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Those meetings appeared to produce no substantial breakthrough on ending the fighting.
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, while officials from Russia reported three people killed and 13 wounded in areas it controls.
According to Ushakov, Putin used the call to brief Trump on the combat situation in Ukraine and on Russia’s plans to make battlefield gains and achieve its military goals in what Moscow calls its “special military operation,” not a war.
Zelenskyy Seeks Trump Meeting
Zelenskyy said the U.S. envoys who visited Kyiv presented some “very good, worthwhile ideas” for ending Russia’s 4 1/2-year-old war, adding that he hopes to meet with Trump within two weeks — around Sept. 20, about the same time that the U.N. General Assembly is being held in New York. Putin isn’t expected to attend. Zelenskyy indicated he will press Trump to provide more Patriot air defense 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 $2 billion for more drones, according to the source material. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia remains determined to accomplish its military goals and believes it is close to winning.
Ukrainian and Western observers, however, believe that Moscow has been unable to make any significant progress on the front line. U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby said the war could yet drag on for years as Russia reconstitutes its forces and its defense industry. “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.
The story was reported by Samya Kullab of the Associated Press from Kyiv, Ukraine, and published by PBS NewsHour on Thursday, Sep 10.
