A source told Reuters on Sunday that Trump, who has criticised the scale of U.S. military and financial support for Kyiv and said he will end the war quickly, had spoken to Putin in recent days. "This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it's just false information," he told reporters. "There was no conversation."

Donald Trump has reportedly held a phone conversation with President Vladimir Putin, where the president-elect reportedly encouraged the Russian leader not to escalate the military situation in Ukraine.

The Kremlin is rejecting reports that President Vladimir Putin spoke last week with President-elect Donald Trump about the war in Ukraine, and a spokesman for Trump refused to comment on what he called his “private calls” with world leaders.