The newly elected president of the United States finally called Petro Pororshenko, president of Ukraine. Trump has made multiple, very public comments regarding his desire to improve relations with Ukraine’s arch nemesis, the Russian Federation. It is telling that Trump waited almost a week before speaking to Poroshenko after calling Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The two sides discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States,” a statement released by the Ukrainian government said.
“Particular attention was paid to the settlement of the situation in the Donbass (in eastern Ukraine) and achieving peace via political and diplomatic means,” reports Reuters.
The conflict in Donbass has been simmering for several years now, with Kyiv not wanting to lose the territory and Moscow not wanting to let Ukraine recover and move towards a strengthened relationship with the European Union. It will be interesting to see how the Trump administration decides to deal with the situation and what type of peace settlement it will support.