伦敦-唐纳德·特朗普总统表示，他周三与俄罗斯总统普京进行了交谈，称他们的通话“很好”，但“不是一场会带来立即和平的对话。”
在Truth Social的一篇帖子中，特朗普表示，领导人讨论了乌克兰的大规模无人机操作在大约65分钟的通话中，周日的目标是俄罗斯军用机场和“各种其他攻击”。
特朗普说:“普京总统确实说过，而且非常强烈，他必须对最近的机场袭击做出回应。”
该帖子被删除，随后很快又被转发。美国广播公司新闻已经向白宫询问了为什么最初被撤下的信息。
通话结束后，一名美国官员还说，美国认为俄罗斯正在准备可能就无人机袭击对乌克兰进行报复。
普京的总统助理尤里·乌沙科夫在电话会议后告诉记者，两位领导人“触及”了对俄罗斯军用机场的袭击，特朗普“再次证实，美国人事先没有得到通知。”
乌沙科夫说:“在谈话结束时，两位领导人都强调交换意见是积极的，非常富有成效的。”“特朗普总统和我们的总统都证实，他们愿意保持相互联系。”
尽管周一在伊斯坦布尔举行了另一轮谈判，但由美国斡旋的乌克兰-俄罗斯和平谈判仍在困境中挣扎，乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基和他的高级官员正在向特朗普施加更多压力，以增加他们认为俄罗斯混淆视听的成本。
特朗普在1月份重返办公室，发誓要在24小时内结束战争。但是几个月的谈判失败——基辅和莫斯科在他们的和平要求上显然仍然相距甚远——让总统和他的政府公开感到沮丧。
特朗普威胁说，如果他的和平努力失败，乌克兰将撤回所有援助，俄罗斯将实施更多制裁。乌克兰和俄罗斯都试图将对方视为达成和平协议的主要障碍。
乌克兰支持特朗普5月呼吁全面停火30天，普京拒绝了这一提议。自那以后的几周里，泽连斯基一直在敦促川普用制裁来回应俄国的顽固立场。
周一的会谈持续了一个多小时，之后基辅开始了新的努力。
“我要感谢所有美国人，所有支持这种向俄罗斯施压实现和平的方法的欧洲人——这极其重要，”泽连斯基周二晚上在Telegram上写道，此前俄罗斯对他的国家进行了最新一轮致命的无人机和导弹袭击，以及乌克兰(SBU)安全局对俄罗斯战略轰炸机群和刻赤海峡大桥进行了两次引人注目的攻击。
“当普京不担心自己行为的后果时，他不会改变自己的行为，”泽连斯基补充道。“俄罗斯必须感受到战争的真正含义。俄罗斯必须承担战争的损失。他们必须真切地感受到，继续战争会给他们带来毁灭性的后果。”
在最近的伊斯坦布尔会谈中，双方同意进一步交换囚犯。但是乌克兰外交部长安德里·西比哈(Andrii Sybiha)和泽连斯基总统办公室颇具影响力的负责人安德烈·耶尔马克(Andriy Yermak)都反驳了谈判朝着持久停火协议迈进的观点。
耶尔马克在社交媒体的一篇帖子中说，他与特朗普的特使史蒂夫·维特科夫(Steve Witkoff)就会谈进行了交谈，告诉他，“俄罗斯的立场仍然是非建设性的。”
“我强调，俄罗斯正在拖延和操纵谈判进程，试图避免美国的制裁，并且没有停止敌对行动的真正意图，”耶尔马克说。“只有强有力的制裁才能迫使俄罗斯进行严肃的谈判。
Sybiha表示，俄罗斯“没有对我们概述乌克兰结束战争愿景的文件做出回应，”他在X上发布了一篇总结乌克兰第二轮会谈官方结论的帖子。
他说:“俄罗斯方面没有回应我们在伊斯坦布尔提出的建设性建议，而是通过了一系列旧的最后通牒，这些最后通牒不会使局势更接近真正的和平。”
“这与俄罗斯之前的承诺相矛盾，包括对美国的承诺，即本周将在伊斯坦布尔提出一些现实可行的东西，”Sybiha补充道，并呼吁美国对莫斯科实施新的制裁。
特朗普在国内也面临压力。共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆(Lindsey Graham)是推动参议院通过制裁法案的人之一，该法案将对任何购买莫斯科能源产品的国家征收500%的关税。格雷厄姆长期以来一直在为总统的外交政策提供建议。
周日，在与民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔(Richard Blumenthal)一起访问基辅后，格雷厄姆在X上写道，“俄罗斯不分青红皂白地杀害男人、女人和儿童。现在是世界对俄罗斯的侵略采取果断行动的时候了，让中国和其他国家为购买支撑普京战争机器的廉价俄罗斯石油负责。”
克里姆林宫呼吁保持耐心。发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫周二在谈到最新谈判时对记者表示，“期待在此问题上立即做出决定或取得突破是错误的。”。“但工作仍在继续。在伊斯坦布尔达成了某些协议，这些协议是重要的。事实上，首先也是最重要的是，它是关于人的。这些协议将得到实施。”
但是俄罗斯前总统和总理，现任国家安全委员会副主席的德米特里·梅德韦杰夫对谈判给出了一个更黑暗的解读。他在电报中写道，谈判“不是为了在他人虚构的、不切实际的条件基础上实现妥协性和平，而是为了确保我们迅速取得胜利，彻底摧毁”泽连斯基政府。
与此同时，克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫周三告诉记者，周二在刻赤海峡大桥发生的爆炸没有造成损害，此前SBU安全局声称对最近的袭击负责。
“嗯，发生了爆炸，没有任何损坏，桥梁正在工作，基辅政权继续试图袭击和平基础设施的物体，”佩斯科夫在一次简报会上说。“俄罗斯方面采取了适当的预防措施。”
SBU表示，周二早些时候，他们用水下炸药袭击了这座连接被占领的克里米亚和俄罗斯克拉斯诺达尔边疆区的桥梁，这次行动“持续了几个月”
SBU声称爆炸“严重损坏了”桥墩的“水下支撑”这座桥的官方账户称，爆炸发生后，该结构被“暂时关闭”。
让特朗普不安的远程打击仍在继续。乌克兰空军报告称，一夜之间有95架俄罗斯无人机进入该国，其中61架被击落或失效。空军说，在七个地方记录了撞击。
与此同时，俄罗斯国防部表示，其军队在夜间击落了7架乌克兰无人机。
美国驻乌克兰大使馆周三发布安全警报，警告美国人俄罗斯袭击的强度越来越大。大使馆敦促美国公民“保持适当的谨慎”，并准备好“立即躲避”，如果空中警报宣布的话。
Trump says he had 'good' call with Putin but peace not 'immediate'
LONDON -- President Donald Trump said he spoke to Russian President Putin on Wednesday, describing their call as "good" but "not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace."
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the leaders discussed Ukraine's large-scaledrone operationthat targeted Russian military airfields on Sunday and "various other attacks" during their approximately 65-minute call.
"President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields," Trump said.
The post was deleted and then shortly reposted. ABC News has asked the White House for information about why it was initially taken down.
Following the call, a U.S. official also said the U.S. believes that Russia is preparing to likely retaliate against Ukraine for the drone strikes.
Putin’s presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters following the call that the two leaders "touched upon" the strikes on Russian military airfields, and that Trump "confirmed again that the Americans were not informed about this in advance."
"At the end of the conversation, both leaders emphasized the exchange of views as positive and very productive," Ushakov said. "Both President Trump and our President confirmed their readiness to remain in constant contact with each other."
With U.S.-brokered Ukraine-Russia peace talks still floundering despite another round of negotiations in Istanbul on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top officials are applying more pressure on Trump to increase the cost of what they see as Russian obfuscation.
Trump returned to office in January having vowed to end the war in 24 hours. But months of failed talks -- with Kyiv and Moscow clearly still far apart on their peace demands -- have left the president and his administration publicly frustrated.
Trump has threatened both -- Ukraine with the withdrawal of all aid and Russia with more sanctions -- with punishment if his peace-making efforts fail. Both Ukraine and Russia have sought to frame the other as the main impediment to a peace deal.
Ukraine aligned itself with Trump's May appeal for a full 30-day ceasefire, a proposal Putin has refused. In the weeks since, Zelenskyy has pushed Trump to meet Russia's obstinance with sanctions.
Following Monday's talks -- which lasted just over an hour -- Kyiv embarked on a renewed push.
"I want to thank all Americans, all Europeans who support this approach of pressuring Russia into peace -- it is extremely important," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Tuesday night, following the latest round of deadly Russian drone and missile attacks on his country -- and after two headline-grabbing attacks by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Russia's strategic bomber fleet and the Kerch Strait Bridge.
"Putin does not change his behavior when he does not fear the consequences of his actions," Zelenskyy added. "Russia must feel what war truly means. Russia must bear the losses from the war. They must really feel that continuing the war will have devastating consequences for them."
The two sides did agree to further prisoner exchanges during the latest Istanbul talks. But both Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Andriy Yermak -- the influential head of Zelenskyy's presidential office -- pushed back on the notion that the negotiations moved the needle toward a lasting ceasefire agreement.
Yermak said in a post to social media that he spoke with Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff about the talks, telling him, "Russia's position remains unconstructive."
"I emphasized that Russia is stalling and manipulating the negotiation process in an attempt to avoid American sanctions and has no genuine intention of ceasing hostilities," Yermak said. "Only strong sanctions can compel Russia to engage in serious negotiations.
Sybiha said Russia "has not responded to our document outlining Ukraine's vision for ending the war," in a post on X summarizing Ukraine's official conclusions from the second round of talks.
"Instead of responding to our constructive proposals in Istanbul, the Russian side passed a set of old ultimatums that do not move the situation any closer to true peace," he said.
"This contradicts Russia's previous promises, including to the United States, that it would put forward something realistic and doable this week in Istanbul," Sybiha added, also calling for new U.S. sanctions on Moscow.
Trump is also facing pressure at home. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham -- long influential in advising the president's foreign policy -- is among those pushing a sanctions bill through the Senate that would slap 500% tariffs on any country that buys Moscow's energy products.
On Sunday, following a visit to Kyiv with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Graham wrote on X, "Russia indiscriminately kills men, women and children. It's time for the world to act decisively against Russia's aggression by holding China and others accountable for buying cheap Russian oil that props up Putin's war machine."
The Kremlin urged patience. "It would be wrong to expect any immediate decisions or breakthroughs here," spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday of the latest talks. "But work is ongoing. Certain agreements were reached in Istanbul, and they are important. Indeed, first and foremost, it is about people. These agreements will be implemented."
But Dmitry Medvedev -- the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country's Security Council -- gave a darker read on the negotiations. The talks, he wrote on Telegram, "are not meant to achieve a compromise peace based on some imaginary and unrealistic conditions invented by others, but rather to secure our swift victory and the complete destruction" of Zelenskyy's government.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday that Tuesday's explosion at the Kerch Strait Bridge caused no damage, after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed responsibility for the latest attack on the structure.
"Well, there was an explosion, nothing was damaged, the bridge is working, the Kyiv regime continues its attempts to attack the objects of peaceful infrastructure," Peskov said at a briefing. "The Russian side takes appropriate precautions."
The SBU said it attacked the bridge -- which links occupied Crimea to Russia's Krasnodar Krai region and is a prominent symbol of Moscow's control over the occupied peninsula -- with underwater explosives early on Tuesday, in an operation that "lasted several months."
The SBU claimed that the explosion "severely damaged" the "underwater supports of the piers." The official account for the bridge said the structure was "temporarily closed" after the explosion.
The long-range strikes that have unsettled Trump continued. Ukraine's air force reported 95 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, of which 61 were shot down or neutralized. Impacts were recorded in seven locations, the air force said.
Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed seven Ukrainian drones overnight.
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine issued a security alert Wednesday warning Americans about the increasing intensity of Russian attacks. The embassy urged U.S. citizens to “exercise appropriate caution" and be prepared to "shelter immediately" if an air alert is announced.
