Trump could speak to Putin about Ukraine next week

The incoming US administration expects a conversation with the Kremlin within days of taking office.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a meeting in Helsinki, July 2018. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Donald Trump could speak to President Putin as early as next week about the war in Ukraine, the US president-elect’s national security adviser has said as Switzerland offers to host peace talks.

Although Trump said repeatedly on the campaign trail that he would resolve the war within a day of taking office, both he and members of his incoming administration have since acknowledged that securing a resolution to the conflict would be a far greater challenge.

“We haven’t set the exact framework for it yet; we are working on that. But I do expect a call, at least, in the coming days and weeks. So, that would be a step and we’ll take it from there,” Mike Waltz told ABC News. Trump will be inaugurated in Washington for a second term next Monday.

Mike Waltz said the new US government would establish a “relationship and dialogue” between Ukraine and Russia. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP

President Biden has not spoken to Putin since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago, saying shortly afterwards that he saw “no need”. However, Trump, who has boasted of his good relations with Putin, has said he will force Kyiv and Moscow to “make a deal” to end the fighting.

“From President Trump’s perspective, you can’t enter a deal if you don’t have some type of relationship and dialogue with the other side, and we will absolutely establish that in the coming months,” Waltz said.

“Everybody knows that this has to end somehow diplomatically,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s realistic to say we’re going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea.”

Although Waltz said no framework had yet to be agreed on for the Trump-Putin talks, Switzerland has said it would be ready to host any meeting. More than 100 world leaders, including the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, attended a Ukrainian peace summit at a Swiss resort in June last year. No Russian officials were involved and China also stayed away.

“Following the Burgenstock summit, Ukraine, Russia and the United States were regularly informed of our willingness to support diplomatic efforts to find peace,” Nicolas Bideau, a Swiss foreign ministry official, told Le Temps newspaper.

Trump, who has boasted of his good relations with Putin, has said he will force Kyiv and Moscow to “make a deal” to end the fighting. Picture: Handout/AFP

Switzerland would be legally obliged to detain Putin under an International Criminal Court arrest warrant that was issued for the Russian leader in 2023 over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. However, Bideau said the Swiss government would have the authority to make an exception for peace negotiations.

In a tacit admission that fighting is set to continue for some time, Waltz also echoed the Biden administration’s view that Ukraine should lower the age at which men can be mobilised for the war from 25 to 18.

“They could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers. So when we hear about morale problems, when we hear about issues on the front line, look, if the Ukrainians have asked the entire world to be all in for democracy, we need them to be all in for democracy,” he said.

Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv on November 23. Picture: Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP

He said a surge in troop numbers would help to “stabilise” the battlefield before talks. President Zelensky lowered the minimum mobilisation age last year from 27 to 25 but has ruled out another decrease. Officials in Kyiv argue that sending younger men to war would make Ukraine’s spiralling demographic crisis worse with little impact on the battlefield.

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, said last week that he hoped to bring peace to Ukraine by the end of April. There are fears in Ukraine that Trump will try to force Kyiv to hand over territory to Russia in exchange for peace. The Kremlin has said the war can only end if Ukraine surrenders one fifth of its land and drops its bid to join Nato.