Trump Put Musk on Phone With Zelensky During Call
President-elect Donald J.Trump spoke on Wednesday with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and during the call handed the phone to Elon Musk, the increasingly influential billionaire who has played a key role providing communications capability to Ukraine in its war with Russia, a person familiar with the discussion said.It is not clear what the three men discussed or whether they touched on any change in U.S.
policy toward Ukraine in the wake of Mr.Trump’s election.
Mr.Musk was with Mr.
Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, and the tone of the call was described as positive, according to the person familiar with the discussion.A second person briefed on the call also confirmed Mr.Musk’s participation, which was reported earlier by Axios.A Trump spokesman did not immediately provide a comment on the call.Mr.
Trump has promised to bring a quick end to the conflict, a position widely seen as allowing Russia to hold on to the territory it has seized since invading Ukraine in 2022.During a presidential debate, Mr.
Trump declined to say which side he wanted to see win the war, and he has suggested that Mr.Zelensky has gotten too much military and financial aid from the Biden administration.Mr.
Musk, who has become close to Mr.Trump in recent months and provided him with financial and logistical support in the presidential campaign as well as full-throated backing on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has been a vital supplier to the Ukrainian war effort through his Starlink satellite communications network.Mr.
Musk is a major U.S.government contractor, especially to the Pentagon, which relies heavily on SpaceX for launch capacity.
He has already sought to have some of his employees placed in government jobs when Mr.Trump takes office, and Mr.
Trump has said he wants Mr.Musk in a role recommending ways to slash government spending.After Mr.
Trump was declared the winner of the presidential race early on W...