Moscow, Jul 3 (PTI) Russia's campaign against Ukraine will continue till all the objectives are achieved, President Vladimir Putin said during a phone conversation with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Thursday, the Kremlin said.

Briefing reporters after an hour-long phone conversation between the two presidents, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow will continue to seek a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict but will not leave its root causes unaddressed.

Also Read | Did India Accept Conditions After US Warned PM Narendra Modi That Pakistan Would Launch Major Attack? PIB Fact Check Reveals Truth As Pakistani Accounts Misquote S Jaishankar’s Operation Sindoor Statement.

Putin declined Trump's call for the earliest possible truce to end the almost four-and-half-year-long war. He however, expressed readiness to achieve a negotiated solution through political dialogue with Kiev, Ushakov said.

President Trump in turn, called on the Russian president to cease the hostilities as soon as possible.

Also Read | Iran Sets Terms for Dialogue, Demands 'Credible Guarantee' From Washington on Future Attacks by Israel and US.

In his sixth phone conversation with Trump since he assumed presidency, Putin congratulated him on the eve of the US Independence Day and said that Russia also had a role in the US war of independence.

“During the American Revolution, Russian Empress Catherine II rejected the UK's diplomatic overtures and refused to send the Russian Army to North America to aid the British Empire in its fight against the thirteen colonies,” Putin said.

Ushakov said that the two leaders, among other issues, discussed the situation concerning Iran as well as the developments in West Asia.

Putin stressed the importance of resolving all disputes, disagreements and conflict matters exclusively via political and diplomatic channels, Ushakov added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)