Putin punks Trump as president's brags about phone call torched by Kremlin

A conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin saw the former brag about a chat the two world leaders had Monday— but the Kremlin had a very different version of the conversation.

While Trump may view the chat as a win which left the Russian president impressed, the Kremlin decreed it was a much more balanced conversation. Speaking from Doral, Florida, on Monday, Trump claimed the pair had spoken of bringing peace between Russia and Ukraine.

The president said, "We were talking about Ukraine, which is just a never-ending fight, and when his tremendous hatred between President Putin and President Zelensky, they can’t seem to get it together. But I think it was a positive call on that subject." Trump went on to say the pair spoke of a "number of highly important issues" and that their chat was "frank and constructive".

He also said he'd pushed Putin to get "the Ukraine-Russia war over with.”

But that was not the line given by the Kremlin, though, with The Daily Beast reporting a much more muted response from Russian officials. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov stressed the phone call between Putin and Trump was made by the US president, and that it was the first time the pair had spoken on the phone this year.

Ushakov said, "They had not spoken by telephone for quite some time–their previous conversation took place at the end of December 2025.

"Today’s call, incidentally, lasted about an hour. The U.S. president noted that, as previously agreed, such communication should, of course, take place on a regular basis, and both leaders expressed their readiness for this."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov undermined Trump further and said the US president made no mention of a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

Peskov said, "Trump didn’t ask about a ceasefire in Ukraine during his conversation with Putin."

Trump had previously been denounced by the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, for caving to Putin and instigating a trade deal.

A post from the Gavin Newsom Press Office on X reads, "Trump waives the Russia oil ban! Putin’s good little boy." Attached is an image of Putin patting the heads of two children, with Trump and Bessent's faces edited on.