U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and discussed the war in Ukraine, the Washington Post reported on November 10, citing sources close to Trump.
The Post said Trump took the call in Florida on November 7, a day after speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Unnamed sources quoted by the Post said Trump told Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and expressed an interest in further talks on “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon.”
Putin initially responded coolly to Trump’s big election win before informally congratulating the president-elect on November 7. He praised Trump’s “courage” in surviving an assassination attempt in July and said he was “ready” to speak to him.
SEE ALSO: Ukraine Live Briefing: Kyiv Says Moscow Used ICBMPeople familiar with the call told the Post that Kyiv had been informed of the Putin call and did not object.
U.S., Russian, and Ukrainian officials have not commented on the report.
On the campaign trail ahead of the November 5 election, Trump claimed he would end the war in Ukraine without offering details about how he planned to do so.
SEE ALSO: Trump's Win Could Lead To Push For Peace In Ukraine, But On Whose Terms?Putin said in September he would like to see U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris beat Trump in the election, but observers argue that was likely part of the Kremlin’s efforts to avoid giving the impression that Putin was hoping Trump would win.
Trump has previously indicated Ukraine may have to agree to give up territory to strike a peace deal with Russia. In the same vein, Trump ally Bryan Lanza told the BBC on November 9 that the focus of Trump's government will be achieving peace in Ukraine and not enabling Kyiv to regain territory occupied by Russia.
The Washington Post report on the call came hours after Zelenskiy said Russia had fired 145 drones at Ukraine overnight, the most in any single nighttime attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine also launched dozens of drones targeting the Russian capital, Moscow, forcing the temporary closure of three airports on November 10.
Russian forces have been making advances in recent weeks, with Moscow saying on November 10 that it had captured the town of Voltchenka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.