US President-elect Donald Trump has said he is looking forward to meeting Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. “[It’s] one of the things I want to do quickly, and President Putin has said he wants to meet with me as soon as possible. So we’re going to wait for that, we have to end this war,” Trump said at the Turning Point USA conference.
He said the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine “has already killed millions of military personnel” while it would never have happened if he were president. “I will end the war in Ukraine, I will stop the chaos in the Middle East. And I promise that I will not allow World War III. We are very close to World War III,” Trump said.
Putin earlier said he was ready for a meeting with Trump. “I don’t know when we will meet. I haven’t talked to him at all for more than four years. I am ready for this, will also be ready for the meeting,” he said during a direct line on December 19. Putin also added that he was ready for talks with Kyiv and for compromises. At the same time, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitrii Peskov said that there are “no real impulses” for Putin and Trump to meet yet.
