- President-elect Donald Trump took a phone call with Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
- Trump also had a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- In July 2023, Trump said he could stop the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
President-elect Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine during a phone call last week, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.
The phone call on Thursday marks the first time the pair are known to have spoken since Trump won the election.
Trump and Putin talked about resolving the war in Ukraine and achieving peace in Europe during their call, The Post reported, citing several people familiar with the matter.
Trump also expressed interest in follow-up conversations to discuss “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon,” per The Post.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign told Reuters that they “do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders.”
Representatives for Trump and the Russian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Trump’s call with Putin took place a day after he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The president-elect took the call with Zelenskyy on Wednesday, at Mar-a-Lago.
“We agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation. Strong and unwavering US leadership is vital for the world and for a just peace,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
I had an excellent call with President @realDonaldTrump and congratulated him on his historic landslide victory—his tremendous campaign made this result possible. I praised his family and team for their great work.
We agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 6, 2024
Trump’s big Ukraine war promises
In July 2023, Trump told Fox News that, if elected, he planned to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours.
“I would tell Zelenskyy, no more. You got to make a deal. I would tell Putin, if you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give him a lot. We’re going to give more than they ever got if we have to,” Trump said.
“I will have the deal done in one day. One day,” he added.
At the time, both Ukraine and Russia were dismissive of Trump’s proposal. Zelenskyy told ABC News that he thought Trump’s proposal was a “beautiful” notion but was not grounded on “real-life experience.” And Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said that the war “cannot be solved in one day.”
That lukewarm response from both countries didn’t stop Trump from making more campaign promises about ending the Ukraine war swiftly.
In June, Trump said at a campaign rally in Detroit that he would have the Ukraine war “settled prior to taking the White House as president-elect.” Trump also criticized Zelenskyy during that rally, calling the Ukrainian leader “maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that’s ever lived.”
“Every time he comes to our country, he walks away with $60 billion,” Trump said at the rally.
“He just left four days ago with $60 billion, and he gets home, and he announces that he needs another $60 billion. It never ends,” Trump added.
Since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022, the US has channeled more than $64 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.
