Putin claims ‘understandings’ reached with Trump on Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he reached “understandings” with US President Donald Trump on ending the war in Ukraine during a meeting in Alaska last month.

Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, Putin said the understandings could “open the way to peace in Ukraine,” according to the BBC.

He did not say whether he would join peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which Trump had reportedly set a deadline for today (September 1).

Putin defended Russia’s invasion, again blaming the West for the conflict and NATO’s push to include Ukraine. His remarks came just days after Russia launched its second-largest aerial assault on Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that if Putin ignored Trump’s deadline, it would suggest the Russian leader was “playing” his US counterpart.

China and India, the biggest buyers of Russian oil, have faced Western criticism for shoring up Moscow’s war-hit economy. Putin thanked both countries’ leaders for supporting efforts to “resolve the Ukrainian crisis.”