Putin congratulates Trump, praises 'brave' character of U.S. president-elect

Russian President Vladimir Putin had flattering words to share Thursday about Donald Trump's recent election win and the character of the next U.S. president.

Speaking at an event in Sochi, Russia, Putin offered Trump congratulations from afar for his election victory. He also praised Trump's courage in the face of a July assassination attempt.

"His behaviour at the moment of an attempt on his life left an impression on me. He turned out to be a brave man," Putin said at an international forum following a speech in Sochi. It was his first public comment on the U.S. vote.

"He manifested himself in the very correct way, bravely as a man," he added.

Putin also said that Trump's statements "about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least."

The Kremlin earlier welcomed Trump's claim that he could negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine "in 24 hours," but emphasized that it will wait for concrete policy steps.

Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. Since then, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has been a key ally for Kyiv, providing a flow of weapons and aid to Ukraine and gathering support among Western nations to enact sanctions against Russia.

Trump has been much more critical of U.S. aid to Ukraine and had even praised Putin at the outset of the invasion. His pending return to the White House leaves Ukraine with questions about how its relationship with Washington may change.

"Will he support continued military aid for Ukraine and … what sort of a diplomatic settlement will he try to impose or support?" Richard Haass, the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, told ABC News during a recent discussion on foreign-policy expectations for Trump's second term in office.

The White House said Thursday that U.S. will keep surging aid to Ukraine ahead of Biden's transfer of power to Trump in January.

Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo — who served as both U.S. secretary of state and the director of the CIA during Trump's first term — predicts that the president-elect's re-entry to the Oval Office will mean changes in how America's adversaries view Washington. 

"Vladimir Putin didn't invade Ukraine during President Trump's four years on our watch," Pompeo noted when speaking to Fox News this week.

Asked, during a question-and-answer session at the conference in Sochi on Thursday, what he expects from a second Trump administration, Putin said: "I don't know what will happen now. I have no idea."

"For him, this is still his last presidential term. What he will do is his matter," said Putin, 72, who this year began a fifth term that will keep him in power until 2030 and could seek six more years in office after that.