The Kremlin has denied media reports that newly-elected US President Donald Trump had a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin in which he allegedly warned the Russian president about an escalation of the war in Ukraine.

The call, first reported on Sunday by the Washington Post, is said to have taken place on Thursday.

Trump is also said to have disclosed America’s extensive military presence in Europe to Putin.

A Kremlin spokesman said the reports were “pure fiction,” while Trump’s team told the BBC it would not comment on the president-elect’s “private conversations.”

Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung told the BBC: “We do not comment on private conversations between President Trump and other world leaders.”

But he said leaders had begun the process of contacting the newly elected president.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any conversation had taken place.

“This is completely untrue, it is pure fiction. That is, this is just false information. There was no conversation,” Peskov said.

Trump has pledged to end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine, but has yet to outline how he plans to do so.

Zelensky has previously warned against ceding land to Russia and has said that without US help, Ukraine would lose the war.

While Peskov spoke to Russian state media on Sunday about “positive” signals from the incoming US administration, others say they are confident the future president will not abandon Ukraine.

Among them is John Healey, the British Defense Secretary, who said he expected the US “to stand with allies like Britain, and to stay by Ukraine’s side for as long as it takes to stop Putin’s invasion.” vanquish”.

On Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned during a visit to Ukraine that any end to the war must be sustainable.

“This is a warning to those who say: this war must end, so let’s end it as soon as possible, no matter what. As important as it is,” he said.

In Washington, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said outgoing President Joe Biden would argue to Trump that walking away from Ukraine would mean greater instability in Europe.

On Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that Putin could take advantage of the US post-election transition period to increase Moscow’s lead in Ukraine.

She urged Berlin and other European Union member states to increase aid to Kiev, saying: “We don’t have time to wait until spring. This is the transition phase that Putin has been waiting for and is aiming for .”

A dam close to the front line in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region was damaged on Monday, according to regional head Vadym Filashkin.

Filashkin said the Kurakhove reservoir dam was hit by a Russian attack, warning that rising waters “potentially threaten” settlements on the Vovcha River. Russia claimed that Ukraine was responsible.

Last week, Russia and Ukraine launched their largest drone strikes since the start of the war.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 84 Ukrainian drones over six regions, including some approaching Moscow, forcing flights to be diverted from three of the capital’s main airports.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 145 drones into every part of the country on Saturday evening, most of which were shot down.

At least six people were killed and 21 others injured in Ukraine on Monday as a result of Russia’s latest series of airstrikes.

Russia, meanwhile, said it had destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones near the western regions of Kursk and Belgorod. It reported no deaths.

“Every day, every night, Russia unleashes the same terror,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter after Monday’s strike.

“More and more civilian locations are being targeted. Russia only wants to continue the war, and any attack negates any claim to diplomacy by Russia.”

Zelensky called for “stronger global support” and more weapons to stop Russian aggression.

Elsewhere, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said its forces had captured the village of Kolisnykivka in the Kharkiv region.

Russian territorial gains in October were the largest since March 2022, according to an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War by the AFP news agency.