He has been relatively discreet since his victory in the American presidential election but exchanges a lot by telephone. After having had Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Wednesday, Donald Trump resumed contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and also spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The war in Ukraine is each time at the heart of these exchanges.
Sunday, November 10, Washington Post thus reported an exchange with Russian President Vladimir Putin two days after the election. According to anonymous sources cited by the American daily, the Republican asked the Russian leader not to provoke an escalation in Ukraine.
Donald Trump wants “peace”
A spokesperson for the US president-elect's transition team said in a statement to l'AFP not “commenting on private calls between President Trump and other leaders.” The Kremlin for its part had earlier estimated that the Republican had sent during the campaign “positive signals” regarding the conflict, since he mentioned a possible ” peace “ and did not show “desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia”.
Read also: American elections: in kyiv, resignation and pragmatism prevail
Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, has regularly claimed he can end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours”. But he never detailed how he would go about it.
According to le Washington Post, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed the goal of peace on the European continent. Donald Trump said he hopes to have follow-up conversations to discuss “resolution of the war in Ukraine soon”. It was the first telephone conversation between the two men since the Republican candidate's victory last week.
Zelensky and his “pocket money”
For its part, the German Chancellery indicated that Olaf Scholz had spoken with Donald Trump on Sunday. The two men said to each other “ready to work together for the return of peace to Europe”, according to Berlin.
Very critical of the American financial aid released for Ukraine, Donald Trump had already spoken on Wednesday with Volodymyr Zelensky. An exchange in which billionaire Elon Musk participated. The Ukrainian president described this telephone exchange as« excellent » and had “agreed to maintain a close dialogue” with Donald Trump.
But according to a highly placed Ukrainian source, the two leaders did not “not really discussed anything substantial, it was a greeting conversation.” On Saturday, Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Junior, shared a video on Instagram of Volodymyr Zelensky alongside his father. With the caption “POV” (point of view or point of view): “You are 38 days away from losing your pocket money”, in reference to the billions spent by the United States to help kyiv.
Washington could condition its financial aid on kyiv
The United States will spend the remaining six billion dollars dedicated to Ukraine before Donald Trump comes to power, current national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday. But this could probably involve an agreement that would require kyiv to cede part of its territory to Moscow – a concession impossible to envisage on the Ukrainian side.
This question would have been raised during the interview between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, according to the Washington Post.
Foreign policy issues will be on the menu of the meeting between Joe Biden and Donald Trump scheduled in the Oval Office on Wednesday to begin the transfer of power.
