MEXICO PERSPECTIVE

Mexico City, July 5, 2026. Mexican media closely followed the July 4 telephone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, described as the fourth conversation of the year between the two leaders, initiated by the White House on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence. El Financiero and El Informador dedicate their main international dispatches to the same observation: despite the U.S. mediation offer, Moscow maintains an uncompromising military posture.

According to Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov, Putin made clear to Trump that Russia will seize the rest of the Donbass "without fail" despite Ukrainian resistance. "No matter which strongholds the Kiev regime clings to, our army will take them without fail," Ushakov said in a teleconference after the talks. The adviser also claimed that Kiev and the European Union "operate from a mistaken perception of the overall situation on the front," an assessment Putin allegedly conveyed to Trump during the approximately 90-minute call.

The capture of Kostiantinivka, announced Friday by the Kremlin, constitutes the military pivot highlighted by Mexican media. El Informador reports that Putin had called this stronghold the day before a "key to liberating all territory of the Donetsk People's Republic." According to him, this conquest "opens a direct route toward Kramatorsk and Slaviansk." In the same address to military personnel, the Russian president stated that Russia had taken 133 settlements and over 3,000 square kilometers in Ukraine since the beginning of 2026, with 29 settlements and 636 square kilometers in June alone.

Vanguardia MX places the call in its diplomatic context: it precedes by several days Trump's participation in the NATO summit in Turkey on July 7-8. The day before the call, Putin had sent Trump a congratulatory message for the American jubilee, recalling that Russia and the United States were "allies in two world wars" and calling for "constructive, equitable and mutually beneficial" relations. This carefully managed diplomatic context did not prevent the reassertion of firm military positions during the call itself.

Zelensky, who also spoke with Trump according to sources relayed by Mexican media, made an appeal to American leadership, stating that "the world needs leadership that ensures the protection of freedom and life." Vanguardia MX notes that he thanked the United States for its military support and compared the Ukrainian struggle to American independence. This Ukrainian voice occupies a notably more modest place in Mexican coverage than Kremlin statements.