Us and Russian leaders spoke to Putin again: Russia is willing to participate in the third round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations

(Moscow/Washington/KyIV) Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump that Moscow is prepared to launch a new round of peace talks with the Kyiv government after the exchange of prisoners of war and the remains of soldiers between Russia and Ukraine on June 22.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not specify whether he agreed to the next round of negotiations, merely saying, "The exchange will be completed and the two sides will discuss the next steps."

Putin and Trump spoke on the phone for nearly an hour on Saturday (June 14th). This is the fifth phone call between the two since Trump's second term.

Russian President's assistant Ushakov told the media that the two sides mainly exchanged views on the dangerous escalation of the situation in the Middle East. Putin condemned Israel's military operation against Iran and expressed serious concern over the possible escalation of the conflict, saying that it would have unpredictable consequences for the entire Middle East situation.

He said that Putin informed Trump of his phone calls with the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of Iran on the 13th. Putin emphasized the importance of preventing the escalation of the conflict and stated that Russia is willing to provide mediation for the two countries.

Trump posted on the Social media platform Truth Social that Putin called him on his 79th birthday and "wished me a very kind birthday". Trump also confirmed that the two discussed the Iran-Israel crisis.

He, like me, believes that this Israel-Iran war should come to an end. I explained that his war (referring to the Russia-Ukraine war) should also come to an end.

Zelensky is worried that the situation in the Middle East will affect the US aid to Ukraine

Zelensky urged the United States to "change its tone" in its dialogue with Russia, saying that the United States was "too enthusiastic" and would not help end the war.

Zelensky posted on social media platform X: "Any signal of reducing aid or treating Ukraine and Russia equally is extremely unfair." Russia is an aggressor. They launched this war. They don't want to end the war.

After Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Friday, Kyiv is worried that Washington might sacrifice Ukraine's interests and redeploy resources to strengthen the defense of its close ally Israel.

Zelensky said, "We hope that aid to Ukraine will not be reduced as a result." Last time, this was also a factor that led to the slowdown in aid to Ukraine.

According to the exchange agreement reached between Russia and Ukraine during the talks in Istanbul earlier this month, the two countries conducted the fourth prisoner exchange within a week on Saturday, and Russia handed over another 1,200 bodies to Ukraine on Sunday.

The Kiev Prisoner-of-War Disposal Headquarters wrote on social media: "Another 1,200 bodies were sent back to Ukraine. The Russian side claimed that these bodies belonged to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel."

Ukraine's Defense Minister Umerov said on Facebook: "A total of 4,812 bodies were sent back this week." However, the Ukrainian side has not disclosed whether any remains have been handed over to the Russian side.

Russia and Ukraine usually do not disclose their respective military losses. But earlier this year, Zelensky rarely disclosed to NBC that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and about 380,000 were injured.

Several independent investigations have reported the number of large-scale casualties of the Russian army. The Russian website Mediazona and the Russian-language channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said that they have identified the names of about 111,000 Russian soldiers who died in action.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russian troops had occupied the village of Malynivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine and carried out a sea and air attack on an oil refinery in the Donbas region overnight, claiming that the refinery provided fuel for the Ukrainian troops.

Zelensky said on Saturday that the Ukrainian army had recaptured the village of Andriivka in northeastern Sumy Oblast, which was part of the operation to drive the Russian army out of the region. He pointed out that Russia has amassed 53,000 soldiers in the region.

The Financial Times of the UK quoted three Ukrainian officials and the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine as saying that a building of the US Boeing company in Kyiv was severely damaged in the latest large-scale Russian air strike.