Nicole Campos Villaran
US President-elect Donald Trump has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged him not to escalate the war in Ukraine, the Washington Post reported Sunday. During his campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to quickly end the Ukraine war – even before he was sworn into office but without detailing his thinking.
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. The incoming president took note of US military power in Europe while seeking to discourage the Kremlin dictator from intensifying Russia's war in Ukraine during the Thursday chat, sources told the Washington Post.
Trump also spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday and the pair "agreed to work together toward 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.
In June, Trump said he would be open to an increase in U.S. weapons aid to Ukraine so long as it shows up for peace talks with Russia, reported Reuters. Vice President-elect JD Vance had publicly laid out a slightly more specific plan that would feature a demilitarized zone between the two warring nations.
This plan, if implemented, wouldn't really reduce the intensity of the conflict. Vance's plan also entails a pledge that Ukraine wouldn’t join NATO, a move that could significantly impact the geopolitical balance in Europe.
Trump’s call with Putin comes just a day after Bryan Lanza, a senior political adviser to Trump, told the BBC that Ukraine should focus on achieving peace instead of “a vision for winning”.
According to The Washington Post, Ukraine was reportedly informed of Trump’s discussion with Putin, to which Kyiv had no objection. However, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry later stated that the Ukrainian government was unaware of the phone call. ‘Reports that the Ukrainian side was informed in advance of the alleged call are false. Therefore, Ukraine could not have endorsed or opposed the call,’ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters.
The Kremlin, in a strong denial, also refuted the existence of a Trump–Putin phone call regarding Ukraine. “It is pure fiction; it is simply false information,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the call. “There was no conversation,” The Guardian reported. Peskov further stated that Putin has no specific plans to speak with Trump.
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