US President-elect Donald Trump spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and urged him not to escalate the war in Ukraine, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Trump held the call from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, just days after his stunning election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, the report said.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, did not confirm the exchange, telling AFP in a written statement that “we do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders.”
The Post, citing several people familiar with the call who spoke on the basis of anonymity, reported that Trump had reminded Putin of America’s sizable military presence in Europe.
They said he also expressed an interest in further conversations to discuss “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon.”
Trump also spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday and the pair “agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe,” according to Scholz’s spokesman.
Trump’s election is set to have a major bearing on the almost three-year Ukraine conflict, as he insists on a quick end to the fighting and casts doubt on Washington’s multi-billion dollar support for Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with Trump on Wednesday, with the Republican’s billionaire backer Elon Musk also notably joining them on the call.
The outgoing Democratic administration of President Joe Biden has confirmed that it will send as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
On Sunday, Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the White House aims “to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield so that it is ultimately in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.”
This would include using the remaining $6 billion of funding for Ukraine available, Sullivan said.
