President-elect Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The outlet said the two leaders spoke by phone on Thursday. It would be the first time the two are known to have spoken since Trump won the election.

In a curious follow-up about Trump’s susceptibility to being pressured and influenced, Patrushev made another eyebrow-raising comment: Rather than answer the question directly, the Putin aide made a point to bring up assassination attempts against the president-elect.

President-elect Trump's team would not confirm or deny a report by the Washington Post that said he told Russian President Putin not to escalate the war with Ukraine.