Donald Trump issued a stern warning to Vladimir Putin on Thursday in their first phone call since the Republican won the presidency, according to a report.
Trump advised Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of ‘Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe’, according to the Washington Post.
During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war ‘within a day,’ but did not explain how he would do so.
Trump had also spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, according to media reports.
On Friday, the Kremlin said Putin was ready to discuss Ukraine with Trump but that did not mean that he was willing to alter Moscow’s demands.
On June 14, Putin set out his terms for an end to the war: Ukraine would have to drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from all of the territory of four regions claimed by Russia.
Ukraine rejected that, saying it would be tantamount to capitulation, and Zelensky has put forward a ‘victory plan’ that includes requests for additional military support from the West.
Trump’s call with the Putin comes one day after Republican strategist Bryan Lanza said the incoming president had ‘vision for peace’ for Ukraine but not a ‘winning’ outlook for the country at war with Russia.
‘When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we’ve got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone,’ Lanza told the BBC.
‘What we’re going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace?
‘It’s not a vision for winning, but it’s a vision for peace. And let’s start having the honest conversation,’
‘And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you’re on your own.’
Sunday’s call between the two leaders isn’t the first the two had since Trump won the 2024 election.
Putin congratulated the ‘courageous’ candidate over the phone on November 7.
At the time, the Russian president said he was ‘ready’ to hold discussions with Trump, whom he said handled himself ‘like a man’ during the assassination attempt earlier this year.
‘I take this opportunity to congratulate him,’ Putin told the Valdai forum in Sochi.
The Russian President was impressed with how Trump handled himself saying ‘he turned out to be a courageous person’.
‘People show who they are in extraordinary circumstances,’ Putin said.
‘This is where a person reveals himself. And he showed himself, in my opinion, in a very correct manner, courageously. Like a man.’