Trump–Putin call fuels peace hopes as Ukraine reports $27bn shortfall and deep drone strike hits Russia
US President Donald Trump said after a phone call with Vladimir Putin on 8 September that Putin wants a deal to end the war, raising the prospect of bilateral or trilateral leader-level meetings. US, Ukrainian and European officials publicly doubted Putin's seriousness, while Ukraine disclosed it needs an additional $27 billion to get through the year. The diplomatic activity coincided with a Ukrainian drone strike on a facility in Russia's Yamal region, described by Kyiv as its deepest inside Russia since 2022, and Russian attacks on multiple Ukrainian regions that killed at least six people.
Key points
- Trump said Putin "wants to make a deal" to end the war and described a possible trilateral meeting as something that "could happen," while calling the main obstacle the personal hostility between Putin and Zelensky.
- The Kremlin said the one-hour call was "very constructive and frank" and that Putin told Trump Russia has no "aggressive plans" toward Europe.
- On 9 September Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US sees an opportunity in coming weeks to develop an action plan to resume Ukraine–Russia negotiations.
- The New York Times, citing European officials, reported Ukraine faces a larger-than-expected budget deficit and needs an additional $27 billion this year; European officials publicly questioned whether funds are being spent efficiently.
- A Ukrainian drone caused a fire at an industrial facility in the Novy Urengoy area of the Yamal region, roughly 2,800 km from the border; Ukraine's Special Operations Forces called it the deepest strike inside Russia since 2022.
- Russian attacks across several Ukrainian regions on Wednesday killed at least 6 people and injured dozens, including 16 injured in Kyiv alone and strikes reported in Mykolaiv, Kramatorsk and Sumy.
Why it matters
Trump's public optimism about Putin's willingness to deal sets up possible bilateral or even trilateral leader-level meetings, even as US, Ukrainian and European intelligence publicly doubts that Putin is serious. The reported $27 billion Ukrainian budget shortfall arrives at exactly that diplomatic moment and threatens to complicate Kyiv's standing with allies. On the ground, the diplomatic track is running in parallel with escalation on both sides: Ukraine's strike near the Arctic Circle, described as its deepest inside Russia since 2022, and Russian attacks killing at least six people across multiple Ukrainian regions.
What happened
On 8 September US President Donald Trump held a one-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump publicly said Putin wants to make a deal to end the war, expressed openness to bilateral meetings between the two leaders, and said a trilateral meeting with Zelensky "could happen," citing personal hostility between Putin and Zelensky as the main obstacle. The Kremlin described the call as "very constructive and frank" and said Putin told Trump Russia has no "aggressive plans" toward Europe; Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin gave Trump a detailed analysis of the battlefield and outlined what Washington could do to end the fighting soon. The next day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US sees an opportunity in coming weeks to develop an action plan to resume Ukraine–Russia negotiations. Against that backdrop, the New York Times reported, citing European officials, that Zelensky told allies Ukraine faces a larger-than-expected budget deficit and needs an additional $27 billion this year; a European official was quoted saying the magnitude was unexpected, and other European officials publicly questioned whether funds were being spent efficiently. On the same day, a Ukrainian drone caused a fire at an industrial facility in the Novy Urengoy area of the Yamal region, roughly 2,800 km from the border; Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said the strike hit two gas condensate processing facilities and called it the deepest inside Russia since 2022, while Russian regional officials said losses were limited to a fire from drone debris with no casualties and Moscow declined to comment. The diplomatic activity also coincided with Russian attacks across several Ukrainian regions that killed at least six people and injured dozens, including 16 injured in Kyiv, strikes on port facilities and food storage warehouses in Mykolaiv, shelling of Kramatorsk with glide bombs, and a drone strike on a parking lot of a shopping centre in Sumy.
How international sources describe it
The single international source in this story, Al Jazeera Arabic, treats the three threads — Trump's claimed political alignment with Putin, Ukraine's deep drone strike inside Russia, and continued Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities — as co-equal components of one story, and embeds European officials' doubts about Putin's intentions and Ukraine's $27 billion shortfall without editorial weighting. Ukrainian-language sources for this synthesis were not separately recorded.
Where reporting differs
Ukrainian company Fire Point said its drone traveled more than 3,300 km and struck its target; Russia's Yamalo-Nenets governor Dmitry Artyukhov said losses were limited to a fire caused by drone debris with no casualties; Moscow declined to comment. Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said the strike hit two gas condensate processing facilities, while the Russian governor identified the location as the Novy Urengoy area. Separately, Trump said Putin wants to make a deal to end the war, while officials in US, Ukrainian and European intelligence publicly doubt the seriousness of Putin's interest in ending the war.
Background
Moscow, Washington and Kyiv have held previous trilateral negotiations, the most recent in Geneva in February. CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Russian intelligence officials in Moscow at the end of August to encourage an end to the war. Ukraine had warned at the start of the month that it would intensify long-range strikes to make Russian airspace unsafe. Novy Urengoy, the site of the Ukrainian strike in the Yamal region, lies just south of the Arctic Circle and has a population of about 100,000.