Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a 40-minute phone call on 18 August in which they examined ways to advance negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Ushakov said the two leaders discussed “raising the level of representatives” from Moscow and Kyiv at the talks and affirmed their support for keeping direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations alive. Sources familiar with the discussions told Axios that Trump hopes to arrange a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by the end of August, a timeline French President Emmanuel Macron also said remains on track. If confirmed, a higher-level negotiating format and a late-August Putin-Zelensky summit would mark the most concerted diplomatic push since Russia’s 2022 invasion, although neither Moscow nor Kyiv has publicly announced a final agreement on timing or participants.