Russia and Ukraine both launched record drone attacks on each other overnight, despite a phone call reported by the Washington Post by US President-elect Donald Trump urging Russian President Vladimir Putin not to escalate the conflict.
Trump’s election to the White House has the potential to end nearly three years of conflict and has raised questions about Washington’s billions of dollars of support for Kiev, which is vital to its defence.
The Republican said during the campaign that he could end the fight within hours and has indicated he would speak directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin — a major break from the approach taken by President Joe Biden.
On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that Trump had a phone call with the Russian strongman on Thursday in which he told Putin not to provoke a tense war.
According to the Post, just days after his landslide election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, Trump, from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, reminded Putin of Washington’s huge military holdings in Europe.
The Kremlin previously said it saw “positive signs” from Trump’s willingness to compromise, and several people who spoke to the US newspaper said Trump expressed a desire for more talks on an “early resolution of the war in Ukraine”. Was done.
Trump will not be inaugurated until January and for now, on the battlefield and in the skies, the conflict shows no signs of abating.
‘Positive signs’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired 145 drones at Ukraine overnight – more than any other night-time attack in the conflict so far.
“Last night, Russia launched a record 145 martyr and other strike drones against Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media. He urged Kiev’s Western allies to do more to help defend Ukraine.
Russia also said it had shot down 34 Ukrainian attack drones targeting Moscow on Sunday, the biggest attempted attack on the capital since the offensive began in 2022.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that the White House must spend its remaining $6 billion in funding for Ukraine before Trump takes office, warning of the risks of ending US support for Kiev.
Despite publicly claiming to support Harris in the US election, it is widely believed that the Kremlin actually wanted to see Trump return to the White House, given his skepticism over US aid to Ukraine and his chauvinistic leadership style. Used to do.
“The signs are positive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with state media published Sunday.
“Trump talked during his campaign about how he sees everything as a deal, that he can make a deal that can lead to peace.
“At least he’s talking about peace, not confrontation,” Peskov said. He’s not talking about his desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia — which differentiates him from the current administration. Is.”
“It’s hard to say what will happen next,” Peskov said, adding that Trump was “less predictable” than Harris and Biden.
“It is also less predictable to what extent he will stick to the statements he made during his campaign,” Peskov said.
Trump has not said how he wants to reach a peace deal or what terms he is proposing.
Russian President Putin has demanded Ukraine’s withdrawal from its eastern and southern regions as a precondition for peace talks.
People familiar with Thursday’s call said Trump briefly raised the land issue with Putin.
After Trump’s election, Zelensky warned that “no concessions” should be made to Putin. Giving up the land or accepting any of their other radical demands will embolden the Kremlin and increase aggression, he said.
Zelensky had previously warned that Kiev would lose the conflict without US aid.
‘massive Attack
As Russia advances on the battlefield, talks of a US-brokered deal are looming.
Moscow’s troops made their biggest territorial gains in October since March 2022, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Moscow’s Defense Ministry on Sunday claimed the capture of another village in Ukraine’s east.
In his evening address, Zelensky referred to Ukraine’s attempted attack on Moscow, the biggest attack targeting the Russian capital since the beginning of the conflict.
Thanking his military for being responsible for drone warfare, he said: “Russian military objects are becoming more and more accessible to our troops.”
Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov described it as an attempted “large-scale” attack.
It temporarily closed three airports, injured a 52-year-old woman and set fire to two homes in the village of Stanovoye in the Moscow region, officials said.
While Ukraine’s capital Kiev is often targeted by large-scale Russian drone and missile attacks, attacks on Moscow are rare.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
