Aid never discussed during Trump-Putin phone call, US president admits

Donald Trump says he and Vladimir Putin did not discuss Ukraine aid in their phone call on Tuesday, 18 March.

The Kremlin said after the call that the Russian leader emphasised that any conflict resolution would require an end to all military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine.

In an interview with Fox, the US president added: “We talked about a lot of things but aid was never discussed.”

Hours after the call, Putin’s forces launched a major air raid on energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Slovyansk city late last night. The Russian leader had told Mr Trump he would pause such attacks.