U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said late Thursday that a meeting is being set up between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He wants to meet, and we are setting it up,” Trump told a reporter during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” he added, about the Kremlin chief’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Trump, however, gave no timeline for when the meeting might take place. “We have a lot of meetings set up with a lot of people. But I’d rather wait after the 20th,” he said, referring to his presidential inauguration date.
Moscow has not yet commented on Trump’s statement. Earlier Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin would welcome Trump’s desire to meet, but so far there have been no official requests for contact.
“If, after taking office, the political will to resume contacts at the highest level remains, then, of course, President Putin will only welcome this,” Peskov said during a press conference.
Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20 has sparked both tentative hopes for a diplomatic end to Russia’s all-out war, but also fears in Kyiv that a quick peace deal could heavily disadvantage Ukraine.
During last year’s U.S. election campaign, Trump boasted about his good relationship with Putin, claiming he could end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours,” but he has never specifically explained how he would do it.
On Tuesday, however, Trump said that a six-month timeline was more realistic for ending the conflict.
“I hope to have six months,” Trump told reporters. “I hope long before six months.”
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