Trump urges Putin not to escalate war during phone call, reports say

Donald Trump held a phone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday advising him not to escalate the war in Ukraine according to the Washington Post, citing well-placed sources.

The president-elect warned Putin of the America's "sizeable military presence in Europe" as he urged restraint in the conflict, which is entering its third year.

The outlet added that Trump had expressed interest in a follow up conversation between the pair to resolve Ukraine's war "soon."

Trump has previously boasted on the campaign trail that he would end the war in Ukraine in "24 hours" — although has not provided concrete details how he would achieve this.

Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory in comments made last Thursday, going so far to praise Trump's courage during an assassination attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.

"He manifested himself in the very correct way, bravely as a man,” Putin said.

The Russian leader added he welcomed Trump's claim he could end the war, but that he was not aware of what Trump's concrete proposals were.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasised that Moscow still views the US as an "unfriendly" country and that ties between Russia and the US were at their lowest point in history.

Trump is known to be friendly towards Putin. When he was elected in 2016, Moscow had hopes that Trump would scrap sanctions against the country.

Since then, Putin has repeatedly noted Trump's first term saw the introduction of the heaviest sanctions against Russia at that time.

In a statement given to the Post, Trump's spokesperson Steven Cheung said of the call between Putin and Trump: "President Trump won a historic election decisively and leaders from around the world know