US president-elect Trump has held several phone calls with leaders in Europe as questions persist over Washington’s commitment to Ukraine’s defense under the new presidential administration.US President-elect Donald Trump has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine in a phone call reported by the Washington Post on Sunday.
The newspaper, citing several people familiar with the call who spoke on the basis of anonymity, reported that Trump had reminded Putin of the sizable US military presence in Europe.
The Post also reported that Trump was keen to have further conversations to talk about “the resolution” of the war soon.
Trump has criticized the scale of military and financial support for Kyiv under US President Joe Biden’s administration, while the soon-to-be president has vowed to end the war quickly, without specifying how.
Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday shortly after his election victory was confirmed.Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it was not informed in advance of the call between Trump and Putin.
“We do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, said when asked about the contact between the two leaders.
Kremlin: ‘At least he’s talking about peace’
On Trump’s return to the Oval Office, Moscow spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday that “the signals are positive… At least he’s talking about peace, and not about confrontation.”
The Biden administration, which will remain in charge until Trump’s inauguration on January 20, has said it will send Ukraine as much aid as possible before Biden leaves office.
On Sunday, 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.”
In their first telephone call since Trump won the US election, Scholz offered Trump the opportunity to “continue the decades of successful cooperation between the governments of both countries,” the spokesman added.
On Sunday evening, Scholz appeared on a talk show on public broadcaster ARD, and seemed unfazed about the prospect of future cooperation with Trump, saying you have to take political situations as they come.
“My principle is always, if I may say so casually: You dance with those who are in the room. And that also applies to the future president of the US,” Scholz said.
“I’m never naive, but I’m also a bit unflustered,” he added.
During his first term as US president, Trump criticized Berlin for insufficient military spending, the country’s trade surplus, and the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2.
Scholz pointed out that Germany is now spending 2% of its gross national product on defense. This falls in line with NATO guidelines.
The chancellor also made it clear that he expects Trump to adhere to the commitment made by outgoing President Biden to station US intermediate-range missiles in Germany.
