A file image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin
| Photo Credit: AFP
U.S. 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 (November 10, 2024).
“Mr. Trump held the call from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday (November 7, 2024), just days after his stunning election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris,” the report said.
The President-elect’s representatives did not immediately respond when asked by AFP for comment.
The Post, citing several people familiar with the call who spoke on the basis of anonymity, reported that Mr. Trump had reminded Mr. 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.”
Mr. Trump’s election is seen as carrying the potential to upend 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 Mr. Trump on Wednesday (November 6, 2024), with the Republican’s billionaire backer Elon Musk also notably joining them on the call.
Mr. Zelensky described the call as “excellent,” saying that he and Trump had agreed to “maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation.”
The outgoing Democratic administration of President Joe Biden has confirmed that it will send as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Mr. Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
On Sunday (November 10, 2024), 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, Mr. said.
‘Losing your allowance’
The Russian government has given a cautious but mostly positive response to Mr. Trump’s return, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Sunday (November 10, 2024): “The signals are positive… At least he’s talking about peace, and not about confrontation.”
During his campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly vowed to quickly end the Ukraine war — even before he was sworn into office — but without detailing his thinking.
Mr. Trump and his allies have railed against U.S. funding for Ukraine, while insinuating that it helps fund a corrupt pro-war nexus of defense companies and foreign policy hawks.
Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., shared a clip Saturday (November 9, 2024) on Instagram which showed Mr. Zelensky standing next to the President-elect with a caption reading: “POV (point of view): You’re 38 days from losing your allowance.”
Any quick deal in Ukraine is expected to require Kyiv to cede some of the territory it has lost to Russian invaders in Ukraine’s south and east.
A former adviser to Mr. Trump, Bryanb Lanza, told the BBC on Saturday (November 9, 2024) that Ukraine had to give up any ambition on regaining Crimea, for instance, which was occupied by Russia in 2014.
He said the U.S. priority was for “peace and to stop the killing”, although the Mr. Trump transition team clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of the president-elect.
Kyiv, though facing a manpower shortage and uncertainty over U.S. support, has steadfastly opposed giving up territory and its European allies and weapons suppliers such as Britain and France are known to be nervous about unilateral moves by Mr. Trump.
Mr. Zelensky has said that giving up land or meeting other demands from the Kremlin would only embolden the Kremlin and provoke more aggression, a view shared by many European allies.
Mr. Trump “briefly raised the issue of land” in his call with Mr. Putin, the Post reported, without further details.
In recent months, both sides in the war have made moves seen as possible efforts to gain leverage ahead of eventual negotiations, with Ukraine seizing a chunk of Russian territory and Moscow’s troops making advances in Ukraine.
This weekend brought the biggest drone attacks yet from both sides.
Russia fired 145 drones at Ukraine overnight, Mr. Zelensky said, while Russia said it had downed 34 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow on Sunday (November 10, 2024).
Published – November 11, 2024 06:04 am IST
