Donald Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin showed the West it is “impossible” to defeat Russia, Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

Mr Trump spoke with the Russian president for 90 minutes on Wednesday, saying he would “immediately” start negotiations with Putin and save “millions of lives”.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said his first in-person meeting with Putin would be in Saudi Arabia in the “not too distant future”.

Mr Medvedev, Russia’s former president and deputy chairman of its powerful security council, said the call showed his country could not be “brought to our knees”.

“There is not and cannot be a main country and a senior ruler of the planet,” Mr Medvedev said. “This lesson should be learned by the arrogant American elites.”

European allies, including the UK and Sweden, insisted they saw Ukraine’s future in Nato amid fears of a favourable peace deal for Russia.