President-elect Donald Trump stated on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed an interest in a meeting to discuss the war with Ukraine.
“President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said during his speech at Turning Point’s America Fest conference. “So we’ll have to wait for this, but we must put an end to the war. “That war is terrible, horrible.”
Trump, who is expected to return to the White House in January, has previously stated on the campaign trail that if elected, he could end the war “in 24 hours.”
The president-elect recently criticized President Joe Biden’s policy change, which allowed Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons to strike within Russian territory.
The president-elect also recently stated that Ukraine will “possibly” receive less military aid once he takes office.
Ukraine is heavily reliant on its international partners for military, financial, and humanitarian aid in order to continue functioning as a state and fighting Russia after nearly three years of conflict.
“The number of soldiers being killed,” Trump said on Sunday. “It’s a flat plane, and the bullets are going and there’s powerful bullets, powerful guns, and the only thing that’s going to stop them is a human body.”
Earlier this month, Trump met in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the Notre Dame Cathedral’s reopening. Following the meeting, Trump urged a “immediate ceasefire.”