Putin and Zelenskyy spoke separately by phone with Trump as drone strikes killed two in Russia and U.K. detains a tanker, according to reports

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy each spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, according to PBS NewsHour. The calls came amid ongoing fighting and a series of security incidents, including reported drone strikes that killed two people in Russia.

The same day, PBS NewsHour reported that the drone strikes also involved the United Kingdom, in connection with an incident that left two people dead in the broader context of the conflict. The report did not provide additional confirmed details in the material available for this story beyond the deaths tied to the strikes.

PBS NewsHour also reported that the United Kingdom detained a tanker. The detention was described in the context of enforcement around maritime and security activity associated with the conflict, adding a separate track of government action alongside the diplomatic phone calls.

While the report characterized the leadership discussions as separate calls, it placed them in a shared timing window with the drone-strike fatalities and the tanker detention. It did not specify whether the talks focused on a particular ceasefire or operational issue, but the concurrence highlighted continued high-level engagement from Washington while the military and maritime fronts continued to move.

Putin’s conversation with Trump and Zelenskyy’s conversation with Trump were both presented as direct U.S.-led contact with the heads of the two warring states. In each case, the calls were reported as phone conversations, and the report positioned them as part of ongoing diplomacy during active hostilities rather than as a replacement for field operations.

The tanker detention by the U.K. introduced a legal and enforcement element to the day’s developments, reflecting how governments seek to apply pressure through maritime controls. The PBS NewsHour report did not include the tanker’s designation, the legal basis cited by the U.K., or the status of any investigation in the material available here.

Officials and analysts have previously said that enforcement at sea and restrictions tied to the war can intersect with economic and security risks for shipping. In this case, the U.K. action was reported as an additional development occurring at the same time as the reported drone-strike fatalities and the U.S. phone diplomacy.

The next steps will likely depend on what the two leaders discussed with Trump and what the U.K. does following the tanker detention, including whether any formal legal proceedings or further statements are issued by relevant agencies. For now, PBS NewsHour’s reporting establishes the timing of the calls and the existence of the reported strike deaths and tanker detention as parallel events on Sunday.