US President Donald Trump on the phone in the Oval Office, 27 June 2017. Photo: Michael Reynolds / EPA

US President Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin by telephone on Tuesday, in a much-anticipated conversation during which the two are believed to have discussed the possible scenarios for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

“President Trump is currently in the Oval Office speaking with President Vladimir Putin of Russia since 10:00am,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino said on X, adding that the call was “going well, and still in progress”.

On Sunday, Trump said he would be speaking with Putin about “land” and “power plants” during the call, and confirmed that the prospect of “dividing up certain assets” in Ukraine had already been raised in talks between Washington and Moscow.

US news outlet Semafor reported on Monday that the Trump administration was considering formally recognising occupied Crimea as Russian territory as part of a deal to end the war in Ukraine, further stoking fears that Kyiv would be forced into making enormous territorial concessions to Moscow as the price of peace.

This story is being updated