London – President Donald Trump again expressed frustration with the Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin while Russian attacks in Ukraine continued despite the efforts of the White House to negotiate a peace agreement between the neighbors at war.
“Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation,” the president told Putin journalists during an executive signature event of the Oval Office. “And then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded in kyiv or somewhere, and then I am very angry.”
Trump has repeatedly admonished Putin for Russia’s night attacks in Ukrainian cities. However, the president told reporters that he still had the hope of progress towards a peace agreement.
“I think we are going to do war,” Trump said, although he added, “you never know what will happen in a war. Strange things happen in the war. The fact that [Putin] I went to Alaska, our country, I think, it was a great statement that wants to do it. “
Firefighters work on the site of the Russian missile strike in the town of Sknyliv on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine on August 21, 2025.
Roman Baluk/Reuters
Both Russia and Ukraine continued long -range attacks during the weekend and until Monday. On Tuesday, the Ukraine Air Force said Russia launched 59 drones to the country during the night, of which 47 were demolished or suppressed.
The Air Force reported 12 drones impacts on nine locations.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said his forces knocked at least 51 Ukrainian drones during the night until Tuesday morning, two who were on their way to Moscow.
After meetings in person with Putin in Alaska and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, plus a large number of European leaders, in Washington, DC, earlier this month, Trump increased the hope of an imminent bilateral meeting between Russian and Ukrainian presidents.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly expressed his willingness to attend such a meeting. But Putin and his officials have constantly dodged the proposal.
“Maybe they will do it, maybe they won’t,” the president told ABC News on Monday about the potential that the two men meet. Trump said he had spoken with Putin since Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington, but refused to discuss the details of the call.
When asked if he would act if the bilateral meeting does not materialize, Trump refused to detail the possible consequences, but said he can act “during the next week or two.”
The peace efforts of the United States continued on Monday, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio talking with European counterparts and Trump’s envoy of Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, traveling to kyiv to meet Zelenskyy.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a press conference after their meeting to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine, at the Joint base the MENDORF-RICHARDSON, in Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
For both US officials, the question of future security guarantees for Ukraine to avoid future Russian aggression was a key discussion issue.
The Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, participated in the call with Rubio. “I reiterated the Ukraine position that security guarantees must be concrete, legally binding and effective,” he wrote in X later. “They must be multidimensional, including military, diplomatic, legal and other levels.”
Zelenskyy said that his meeting with Kellogg was “productive”, again expressing his gratitude to Trump’s efforts to negotiate an agreement and his willingness to provide support to security guarantees.
Meanwhile, Kellogg said that the American side is “working very, very hard” to get “to a position in which, in the short term, we have, with a lack of a better term, security guarantees. That is a job in progress.”
Shannon K. Kingston of ABC News, Rachel Scott, Lalee Ibssa and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
