Trump-Putin Dialogue to focus on 3 issues

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump will speak by phone on Tuesday, as one US official expressed hope the two could agree a Ukraine ceasefire within "weeks". Three issues will be of importance in this dialogue, the 'land' occupied by Ukraine, the 'power plant', and the sharing of certain assets.

Trump said earlier "a lot of work" had been done between the US and Russia on settling the three-year Ukraine conflict, and that there was a "very good chance" hostilities would end.

Putin said last week he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire, but warned he had "serious questions" about how it would be implemented that he wanted to discuss with Trump.

Kyiv has agreed to the ceasefire, while its European allies have criticised Putin for not committing to an unconditional and immediate halt in fighting, with the UK accusing the Russian leader of "dragging his feet".

"There is such a conversation being prepared for Tuesday," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP ahead of the Trump-Putin call, without commenting on what the two leaders would discuss.

The US leader last spoke to Putin last month, in a call that broke Western efforts to isolate Putin as long as his forces keep up their Ukraine offensive.

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin last Thursday in Moscow to present the details of the joint ceasefire plan, which envisages a 30-day pause in hostilities.

Witkoff told CNN he expected some sort of deal in the "coming weeks".

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky has reacted with anger to Putin's statements, accusing him of wanting to prolong the fighting.

On Saturday, Zelensky warned that Moscow wanted to first "improve their situation on the battlefield" before agreeing to any ceasefire.

Russia grinding ahead

Moscow has been pressing ahead in several areas of the front for over a year.

On Monday, Russia claimed its forces had captured Stepove -- a village in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region -- although open-source battlefield maps showed it outside Moscow's control.

Exchange of fire

After a brief lull in drone fire last week, both sides appeared to have stepped up attacks on Monday.

Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack on southern Russia, sparking a blaze at an oil refinery, while Moscow launched a barrage of nearly 200 drones against Ukraine.