Trump calls Putin – WaPo

US President-elect Donald Trump has called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Ukrainian conflict and its potential settlement, The Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing several people familiar with the matter.

The phone call took place on Thursday, shortly after Trump secured his election victory. The US president-elect reportedly urged Putin not to “escalate” the conflict, reminding him of the significant US military presence in Europe, one of the sources told the daily.

Apart from that, Trump and Putin spoke about “the goal of peace on the European continent,” with the US president-elect expressing interest in follow-up conversations to talk about “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon,” several other unnamed individuals told the WaPo. The report gave no insights into what reaction, if any, Trump’s remarks invoked.

Thus far, Moscow has made no official comments on the reported phone call between Trump and Putin. On Thursday, the US president-elect told NBC News he had already spoken with “probably” 70 world leaders since his election victory, but Putin was not among them. “I think we’ll speak,” Trump said at the time.

Trump has already spoken with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, with the latter describing the conversation as “positive” and saying Trump’s outreach shortly after his victory was encouraging. However, Zelensky admitted he “cannot yet know” what Trump’s actions will ultimately be and that, should a resolution of the conflict be “just fast,” it would likely mean “losses for Ukraine.”

Throughout his election campaign, Trump has repeatedly pledged to swiftly end the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, potentially even before officially assuming office. However, he hasn’t provided any concrete details on how exactly he plans to achieve such a goal.