The Kremlin has denied that President Vladimir Putin spoke to US president-elect Donald Trump in recent days, as France and Britain reiterated their support for Ukraine and Russia launched more deadly air strikes on its pro-western neighbour.
“There was no conversation. This is completely untrue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday after the Washington Post and Reuters reported that Mr Trump had spoken to Mr Putin since winning last Tuesday’s US election and urged him not to escalate the fighting in Ukraine any further.
Ukraine and its European allies are on tenterhooks over how Mr Trump will approach Russia’s almost three-year, full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which he has claimed he could end in one day if he won re-election to the White House.
French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer discussed Ukraine in Paris on Monday, with the former’s office saying they “reaffirmed their commitment to co-ordinate closely, stressing their determination to support Ukraine unwaveringly and for as long as necessary to thwart Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine”.
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Separately, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said “we absolutely should not prejudge [Mr Trump’s position on Ukraine] and we have to give [him] time ... Ukraine, and beyond that the international community, would have too much to lose if Russia imposed the law of the strongest.”
Meanwhile, British defence secretary John Healey said he expected the US would remain “steadfast” in backing Ukraine and would not “turn away from Nato”.
“As far as president Trump goes, he recognises that countries get security through strength, just as alliances like Nato do, and I expect the US to remain alongside allies like the UK, standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes to prevail over Putin’s invasion,” he told Sky News.
On a visit to Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc had supplied Kyiv with more than 980,000 artillery shells and would pass the one million mark by the end of the year, nine months later than planned.
“More and faster military support is crucial,” he said on social media, after posting a photo of himself early on Monday morning “starting my day in Kyiv in the shelter, as Russia unleashes another missile attack.”
Russian air strikes killed at least five people in the southern city of Mykolaiv, killed one person and injured 21 in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, and wounded 11 in the eastern city of Kryvyi Rih, hometown of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“Kryvyi Rih. An ordinary five-storey apartment building hit by Russian terrorists with a missile,” he wrote on social media. “Without principled decisions and strong support for Ukraine, Russia will have no motive to pursue peace and will only continue choosing new targets.”
