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In a nearly two-and-a-half-hour call timed before Donald Trump's meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Kremlin cast the eighth Trump-Putin conversation in eight months as "positive," while pushing to head off US talk of supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. Vladimir Putin argued the weapons would not alter the battlefield but would harm US-Russia ties, praised Trump's peacemaking, floated economic deals, and agreed to a follow-up summit in Budapest. Yet Moscow signaled no shift in its maximalist war aims. Ukrainian officials say Tomahawk discussions drew Putin back; the Kremlin bets peace optics might temper US threats.

Prepared by Lauren Mitchell and reviewed by editorial team.