U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to hold a telephone call soon.
Mike Waltz, who was recently nominated for national security adviser by Trump, told ABC News that the call is planned for “the coming days and weeks.” This announcement comes after Trump said last week that he would meet with Putin in the near future.
Waltz did not give a specific date or time for the call. He also mentioned that the format of the meeting has not been decided yet, so it’s unclear who will be involved.
The Kremlin previously welcomed Trump’s readiness to talk about Russia’s war against Ukraine. However, they stated that no concrete plans have been made and that a face-to-face meeting would only happen after Trump is inaugurated on January 20.
Moscow has rejected some of the terms proposed by Trump for a peace deal in Ukraine. These proposals included freezing the front lines, postponing Ukraine’s NATO membership, and deploying European peacekeepers to the area.
Waltz did mention that Ukraine needs to address its “manpower issues” and suggested lowering the draft age from 26 to 18 as one solution.
He also stated it’s not realistic to expect Russian troops to completely withdraw from occupied regions of Ukraine, including Crimea.