Kremlin denies reports of Trump-Putin call about Ukraine | Donald Trump

The Kremlin has denied reports that the US president-elect, Donald Trump, had spoken to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in recent days, and said Putin had no concrete plans yet to speak to Trump.

The Washington Post first reported that the call had taken place, citing unidentified sources, and said that Trump had told Putin that he should not escalate the Ukraine war. Reuters also reported on the call, citing an unidentified source.

“This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it’s just false information,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “There was no conversation.”

“This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications,” Peskov said.

Asked if Putin had plans for any contacts with Trump, Peskov said: “There are no concrete plans yet.”

The Post reported that Trump had reminded Putin of “Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe”. It added that Trump expressed interest in follow-up conversations on “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon”.

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.

Washington has provided tens of billions of dollars worth of US military and economic aid to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February 2022, funding that Trump has repeatedly criticised and rallied against with other Republican lawmakers.

Peskov also accused European leaders of continuing to seek a “strategic defeat” of Russia. He was responding to a question about the possibility that Britain would allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow long-range missile systems to hit targets inside Russia – something he said could not be ruled out.