First Since Invasion, US Supreme General Calls Chief Of The Russian Military General Staff, Will There Be A Truce?

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley with Chief of the Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov. (Wikimedia Commons.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

JAKARTA - For the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the two top generals of the United States and Russia, President Joe Biden's mainstay and Vladimir Putin are communicating, discuss the current situation.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, spoke on the phone with the Chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, the US Department of Defense said Thursday.

"Military leaders discussed several security-related issues of concern and agreed to keep the lines of communication open," a spokesman for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

"In accordance with previous practice, specific details of their conversation will be kept confidential," the spokesperson added.

The US military reading did not mention any specific issues discussed.

Meanwhile, RIA news agency, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, said the two military leaders discussed issues of mutual interest, including Ukraine.

The communication between the two military top brass came after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart last week, with the Pentagon chief calling for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

The United States and Russia have established hotlines since the invasion, which Moscow calls a special military operation, began on February 24 to prevent miscalculations and conflict escalation.

The 'deconfliction' hotline is an open telephone line based at European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany and under Air Force General Tod Wolters, who commands all US troops in Europe.

Speaking in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday, General Wolters said he hoped the talks between General Milley and General Gerasimov were one step closer to a diplomatic solution in Ukraine.

However, there appears to be little momentum on the diplomatic front, more than two months after the start of the Russian invasion, which has left thousands dead or injured, reduced cities to rubble and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.