The Washington Post: Trump and Putin called and discussed the war in Ukraine

US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Thursday, November 7, The Washington Post reports, citing its sources. They claim that during the phone call, Trump urged Putin “not to escalate the war in Ukraine” and reminded him of the “significant presence” of US troops in Europe.

Trump and Putin also discussed a possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and the US president expressed interest in subsequent negotiations to resolve the conflict.

WP interlocutors claim that in “private conversations” Trump made it clear that he would support a deal in which Russia would retain part of the occupied territory. This issue was allegedly “briefly” discussed during a telephone conversation.

The Ukrainian government was informed about the call between Putin and Trump and did not object to the conversation taking place, two WP sources familiar with the situation said. They said officials in Kyiv had long understood that Trump would work with Putin on a diplomatic settlement in Ukraine.

Journalists sent inquiries to Dmitry Peskov, as well as to the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, but received no response.

• On the day when, according to WP, the conversation between Putin and Trump took place, the Russian President participated in a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. There, he publicly congratulated Trump on his victory in the elections and declared his readiness to maintain contacts with the elected US President. Trump soon announced through the press that he was also ready to talk with Putin and that this would probably happen soon.
• According to Trump, since winning the election he has already had about 70 telephone conversations with world leaders, including on November 6 he spoke with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. According to Axios, this conversation was joined by the head of Tesla, SpaceX and X, Elon Musk, who actively participated in Trump’s election campaign.