Trump says he’s spoken with Putin about ending the Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump has conversed with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about putting an end to the conflict in Ukraine, the New York Post reported. 

Aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump was asked how many times he had conversed with Putin regarding the war. 

Trump replied that he had "better not say," about the number of times he talked with Putin. 

The US president told the news outlet that he "always had a good relationship with Putin."

"I hope it's fast," Trump said, in regards to Putin ending the war. "Every day people are dying. The war is so bad in Ukraine. I want to end this thing."

Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, infringing on Ukrainian sovereignty and killing Ukrainian civilians.  

On Friday, Trump said he would probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a location outside Ukraine next week.

Kremlin gives no clear answer on Putin-Trump conversation

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he could "neither confirm nor deny" the report of a phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, regarding Ukraine, the state-run TASS agency reported.    

Both Trump and Putin said earlier that they were willing to meet in person to end the war.

Earlier this week, Peskov said contact had "intensified recently" between the Trump administration and Russia.