Russian President Vladimir Putin dialled his US counterpart Donald Trump to discuss global issues such as Middle East crisis, Ukraine war and even the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.
"They also touched upon the Middle East and the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, which was stopped with the personal participation of President Trump," Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russia's TASS news agency.
This contradicts India's stance that the ceasefire was reached without Trump's involvement. MP Shashi Tharoor, who is heading an all-party delegation to the US, clarified on Wednesday that there was no third-party intervention in the conflict at any point.
Following the call, President Trump took to his Truth Social platform, saying, "I just finished speaking, by telephone, with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia. The call lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes. We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides. It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace."
Trump said that Putin strongly said that Russia will have to respond to the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on its air bases.
Discussing Iran, Trump said both he and Putin agreed that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Putin expressed his readiness to take part in discussions with Iran to help resolve the issue quickly. "It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!" the US president said.
Operation Sindoor was launched by India in response to the deadly Pahalgam attack that claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians on April 22. In retaliation, India struck nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7. These included the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Muridke and the HQ of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Bahawalpur. Chhakwal, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, Bhimber, Chakswari, Muzaffarabad, Rawalkot and Kotli were other terror targets.
Pakistan, in response, sent a barrage of missiles and drones targeting Indian civilian and military facilities, all of which were thwarted successfully. Responding to the aggression, India struck 11 of Pakistani air bases, including Nur Khan, Sialkot, Murid, Sukkur, Pasrur, Sargodha, Chunian, Skardu, Jacobabad, Bholari and Rafiqui.
New Delhi's strong response forced Islamabad to seek a ceasefire with the Pakistani DGMO calling his Indian counterpart to end the 88-hour conflict.
