BERLIN — The Kremlin confirmed Wednesday it had established contact with the Trump administration, as discussions begin about the possibility of holding peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.

“There are indeed contacts between individual departments, and they have intensified recently, but I cannot tell you any other details,” Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said during a call with reporters.

Peskov had been asked about the status of negotiations after President Donald Trump, during a joint news conference Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said his administration was already having “very constructive talks on Ukraine.”

“And we are talking to the Russians. We are talking to the Ukrainians,” said Trump, who campaigned on bringing a quick end to the war that has lasted for nearly three years.

Putin’s forces reeled on the battlefield in the year after his invasion, but Russia has since recovered and put Ukraine on the back foot.

— The New York Times