Russia and Ukraine launched record drone attacks on each other despite a phone call reported by the Washington Post from 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 upend the almost three-year conflict and has thrown into question Washington’s multi-billion dollar support for Kyiv, crucial to its defence.
The Republican said on the campaign trail that he could end the fighting within hours and has indicated he would talk directly with Putin — a major break from the approach adopted by President Joe Biden.
The Washington Post reported that Trump had had a phone call on Thursday with the Russian strongman in which he told Putin not to inflame the attritional war.
Just days after his stunning election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, Trump reminded Putin of Washington’s sizeable military foothold in Europe from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to the Post report Sunday.
The Kremlin had earlier said it saw “positive signals” from Trump’s willingness to strike a deal, and several people speaking to the US paper said Trump had expressed the desire for more conversations on “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon”.
Trump also spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday and the pair “agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe”, according to Scholz’s spokesman.
Trump will not be inaugurated until January and for the moment on the battlefield and in the skies, the conflict shows no signs of subsiding.
– ‘Positive signals’ –
Russian air strikes killed at least five people in southern Ukraine, authorities said Monday, a day after Moscow and Kyiv launched record overnight drone attacks at each other.
Russia launched 145 drones at Ukraine overnight Saturday into Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said — more than in any single night during the conflict.
“Last night, Russia launched a record 145 Shaheds and other strike drones against Ukraine,” Zelensky said Sunday on social media, urging Kyiv’s Western allies to do more to help Ukraine’s defence.
Russia also said it had downed 34 Ukrainian attack drones targeting Moscow on Sunday, the largest attempted attack on the capital since the start of the war in 2022.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the White House was to spend its remaining $6 billion of funding for Ukraine before Trump takes office, warning of the risks of ending US support for Kyiv.
While having publicly claimed to be backing Harris in the US election, the Kremlin is widely believed to have actually wanted to see Trump return to the White House, welcoming his scepticism over American aid to Ukraine and his chaotic leadership style.
“The signals are positive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with state media published Sunday.
“Trump during his election campaign talked about how he perceives everything through deals, that he can make a deal that can lead to peace.
“At least he’s talking about peace, and not about confrontation. He isn’t talking about his wish to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia — that distinguishes him from the current administration,” Peskov added.
“What will happen next, it’s hard to say,” Peskov said, adding that Trump was “less predictable” than Harris and Biden.
“It’s also less predictable to what extent he will stick to the statements that he made on the campaign trail,” Peskov added.
Trump has not said how he intends to strike a peace deal or what terms he is proposing.
Russia’s Putin has demanded Ukraine withdraw from swathes of its eastern and southern territory as a precondition to peace talks.
People familiar with Thursday’s call said Trump had briefly raised the question of land with Putin.
Following Trump’s election, Zelensky warned there should be “no concessions” to Putin. Ceding land or giving in to any of his other hardline demands would only embolden the Kremlin and lead to more aggression, he said.
Zelensky has also previously warned that without US aid Kyiv would lose the conflict.
– ‘Massive’ attack –
Talk of a US-brokered deal comes as Russia advances on the battlefield.
Moscow’s troops last month made their largest territorial gains since March 2022, according to AFP analysis of data from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Moscow’s defence ministry claimed Sunday to have captured another village in Ukraine’s east.
In his address, Zelensky alluded to Ukraine’s attempted barrage of Moscow, the largest attack targeting the Russian capital since the start of the conflict.
Thanking his forces responsible for drone combat he said: “Russian military objects are becoming more and more accessible to our soldiers.”
Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov called it a “massive” attempted strike.
It forced the temporary closure of three airports, wounded a 52-year-old woman and set two homes on fire in the village of Stanovoye in the Moscow region, officials said.
While the Ukrainian capital Kyiv is frequently targeted by massive Russian drone and missile strikes, attacks on Moscow are far less frequent.
