US President Donald Trump's national security adviser says top administration officials will meet with European officials this week about how to end the war in Ukraine, nearly three years after Russia launched an all-out invasion.
Less than a day earlier, The New York Post reported Mr Trump had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss steps toward a negotiated solution.
There was no immediate confirmation from the White House or the Kremlin.
In a television interview, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz declined to comment on the report.
US eyes Ukrainian oil and gas to 'recoup costs' of war
Mr Waltz said the Russian economy was not doing well and that Mr Trump was "prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction" Moscow to get Mr Putin to the negotiating table.
But Mr Waltz also underscored the Trump administration was looking to use this week's engagements to begin talks on clawing back some of the United States's assistance to Ukraine.
He said European allies would need to take a greater role in supporting Ukraine going forward.
"We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their natural resources and their oil and gas and also buying ours," Mr Waltz said during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press.
"Those conversations are going to happen this week. And I think an underlying principle here is that the Europeans have to own this conflict going forward."
Kremlin will not confirm Trump-Putin talk
According to a New York Post report, Mr Trump said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone about ending the war in Ukraine.
It would be the first officially acknowledged conversation between Mr Putin and a US president since early 2022.
In an interview from Air Force One on Friday, Mr Trump said he had "better not say" how many times he and Mr Putin had spoken.
He also did not disclose when the latest conversation took place.
"[Mr Putin] wants to see people stop dying," Mr Trump said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS state news agency that "many different communications are emerging".
"I personally may not know something, be unaware of something," Mr Peskov said when asked by TASS to comment.
"Therefore, in this case, I can neither confirm nor deny it."
Deal must leave Putin 'no chance to wage war'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Mr Trump's plan for a quick settlement must ensure there could be no more Russian aggression.
Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine wanted no repeat of the experience of peace accords and talks that failed to produce results in the years running up to Moscow's February 2002 full-scale invasion.
"A frozen conflict will lead to more aggression again and again," Mr Zelenskyy told ITV.
"Who then will win prizes and go down in history as the victor? No-one. It will be an absolute defeat for everyone, both for us, as is important, and for Trump.
"He needs not just to end the war. He needs to act so that Putin has no chance to wage war on us again. This is the main thing and everyone should recognise that. That would be a victory," Mr Zelenskyy said.
In his comments to ITV, Mr Zelenskyy again ruled out holding elections in Ukraine until hostilities ceased saying it would endanger the country by removing key provisions of martial law.
Hegseth to meet NATO defence ministers
US Vice-President JD Vance will be in Paris on Monday for an artificial intelligence summit, before later in the week heading to the Munich Security Conference, where Mr Zelenskyy will lead the battle-weary country's delegation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Mr Trump's special envoy on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, will also be in Munich.
On Wednesday, Mr Hegseth will join the main international forum for drumming up weapons and ammunition for Ukraine.
He is set to participate in a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels the following day.
The UK is convening the 26th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a consortium of about 50 partner nations, on Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
It was not immediately clear whether the UK convened the meeting on its own initiative or whether Washington requested it.
Mr Putin is closer than ever to achieving his objectives in battle-weary Ukraine, with little incentive to come to the negotiating table, no matter how much Mr Trump might cajole or threaten him, according to Russian and Western experts interviewed by The Associated Press.
Mr Putin has previously said Mr Trump is "clever and pragmatic", and has even parroted his false claims of having won the 2020 election.
Mr Trump's opening gambit was to call Mr Putin "smart" and to threaten Russia with tariffs and oil price cuts, which the Kremlin brushed off.
ABC/wires
