Less than two days after winning the White House, President-elect Donald Trump spoke with

Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone. That's according to exclusive reporting from our

colleagues at the Post, who spoke with several people familiar with this conversation.

On this call, Trump asked Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin later denied the call happened, but the episode raises questions about what

Trump's relationship with Putin might look like as he prepares to take office again.

As a candidate, Trump made a lot of promises about what he'd do on foreign policy.

He spoke about ending the war in Ukraine.

I will get it settled before I even become president. If I win, when I'm president-elect,

and what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other, I'll get them together.

That war would have

never happened. And Israel. You have to end this fast. It can't continue to go on like this.

It's too long. It's too much. You got to get your hostages back. And putting in massive tariffs on

imports from other countries. Who's going to have higher prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping

us off for years.

Unlike in 2016, when he first became president, Trump is now a familiar figure to foreign

leaders.

But those foreign leaders are also now trying to figure out what a second Trump term means

for them, and for all the complex challenges the world is facing right now.

Of course, a stream of congratulations came from leaders across the world, but it was quite clear

that especially in Western Europe, especially among the

U.S. as quote-unquote traditional allies and partners, there was a degree of wariness about a Trump

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