President-elect Donald 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 US policy toward Ukraine in the wake of Trump’s election. Musk was with 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 Musk’s participation, which was reported earlier by Axios.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately provide a comment on the call.
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. Musk, who has become close to 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, has been a vital supplier to the Ukrainian war effort through his Starlink satellite communications network.
