Local residents walk past a burning garage outside a multi-storey residential building damaged after a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kiev, July 6, 2026, amid the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Zhenya Savilov AFP | getty images
The long-running Russia-Ukraine war appears to have entered a new phase ahead of major developments over the weekend and the NATO summit.
Over the past 72 hours, US President Donald Trump reportedly held separate talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian drones struck an oil terminal and port in St. Petersburg and the surrounding region, and Russia launched its second large-scale attack on Kiev in less than a week.
Escalation risks as well as the prospect of renewed diplomacy have kept investors cautious at a time when markets are trying to price geopolitical risks, energy security and the integrity of Europe’s defense spending pledges.
“There is a real possibility of ending this war, and America’s resolve is decisive,” Zelensky said. Said In a social media post on Saturday.
What did Trump discuss with Putin and Zelensky?
Ukraine’s president said he discussed the latest situation on the front line after more than four years of conflict and agreed with Trump to continue dialogue at the NATO summit. Heads of state from 32 countries are expected to arrive in the Turkish capital Ankara from Tuesday for the two-day conference.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Sunday that Trump spoke to Putin for 90 minutes over the weekend, during which the US president offered to help find a solution to the war.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakon described the talks as “businesslike and very constructive”, according to a Russian state news outlet. RIA Novosti.
US President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the White House in Washington, DC, US on Sunday, July 5, 2026.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | getty images
Ushakov told reporters, “There is immense potential for mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries. To achieve this, Donald Trump stressed, it will be necessary to end the Ukrainian conflict as soon as possible.”
A White House spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Monday.
The US president, who repeatedly said during the 2024 campaign that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in a day if elected, has hinted at the possibility of renewed US support for Kiev following the signing of an interim peace deal with Iran.
This suggestion, combined with a flurry of deep strike successes by Ukraine, has led some analysts to conclude that the war may have shifted in Kiev’s favor, with Putin recently acknowledging for the first time the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian fuel production.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil facilities and military assets in recent weeks, seeking to cut off Moscow’s energy revenues and increase political pressure on the Kremlin.
Ukraine attacks Russian oil terminal
Ukrainian officials said forces on Friday and Saturday attacked a major oil terminal in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, as well as the Kronstadt naval base, the main base of the Russian Baltic Fleet. The attacks reportedly caused fires at both the oil terminal and the military facility.
In response, Russian missiles and drones struck the Ukrainian capital early Monday, killing at least 11 people and causing heavy damage to residential high-rise buildings. Said.
The attack, which came on the eve of a NATO summit, follows a separate deadly attack on Kiev last week.
Researchers at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, Said Putin cited Ushakov’s call to emphasize that Ukraine’s European partners had a misconception about battlefield realities.
Instead, Putin is said to have briefed Trump on the “real” front-line situation in which Russian troops are advancing, with Putin claiming that Russian forces have captured the eastern city of Kostyantnivka.
In this pool photo distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the governor of the Kursk region in Moscow on June 30, 2026.
Gavriil Grigorov AFP | getty images
ISW said in its latest assessment that Russia’s claims of further advances come as the Trump administration has publicly talked about Ukrainian successes on the battlefield, including medium- to long-range attacks on Russian military assets and energy infrastructure.
“Putin and other Kremlin officials are deliberately spreading false narratives that Russian forces will soon seize the remainder of Donetsk Oblast into Western information circles in order to persuade the West to accede to demands that Russia cannot secure militarily,” ISW researchers said on Sunday.