President Trump has spoken to Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the phone to try to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war, he told The Post in an exclusive interview aboard Air Force One Friday. “I’d better not say,

President Donald Trump says his administration has already had “very serious” discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon take “significant” action toward ending the grinding conflict.

That will take some doing. Putin remains uninterested in peace talks as long as Russian troops continue to gain ground in Ukraine’s east, albeit at a slow pace, and while Ukrainian forces hold seized territory in the Kursk region inside Russia, according to John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and other former officials.

Ukraine is reported to have wiped out the entire command of Russia's 35th Brigade in a deadly missile strike. The attack was carried out using HIMARS missiles on the brigade's headquarters in the eastern town of Selydove.

The Russian dictator should be worried, the author suggests. Inspired by what he sees as his own role in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump is unlikely to propose a deal on Ukraine that won’t be enforced.