One week before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump is already eying a diplomatic meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he wants to happen in the coming days, or weeks.
Now, details are beginning to emerge from a top Trump advisor as to what the two world leaders will discuss — including the war in Ukraine.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., the incoming national security adviser, told ABC on Sunday that the Ukraine war had become a World War One-style “meat grinder of people and resources” with “World War III consequences,” according to ABC.
“Everybody knows that this has to end somehow diplomatically,” said Waltz, who also served in the National Guard as a colonel, told ABC.
“I just don’t think it’s realistic to say we’re going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea. President Trump has acknowledged that reality, and I think it’s been a huge step forward that the entire world is acknowledging that reality. Now let’s move forward.”
Asked specifically about contacts between Trump and Putin, Waltz said: “I do expect a call for, at least in the coming days and weeks. So, that would be a step and we’ll take it from there.”
Trump styles himself as a master dealmaker and has vowed to swiftly end the war in Ukraine but not set out how he might achieve that.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands dead, displaced millions of people and triggered the biggest rupture in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.