President-elect Donald Trump said yesterday that a meeting was being set up between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Trump offered no timeline for definitive talks between the two leaders, according to Newsmax.
According to reports, Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20 has sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution to end Russia’s war with Ukraine that began in February 2022.
Advisers to Trump have floated proposals to end the war that would effectively cede large parts of the country to Russia for the near future.
“He wants to meet, and we are setting it up,” Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“President Putin wants to meet. He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess.”
The U.S. under President Joe Biden has committed more than $175 billion in aid for Ukraine, including more than $60 billion in security assistance.
However, it is unknown if the aid will continue at that pace under Trump, who has said he wants to bring the war to a swift end.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Thursday that Putin would welcome Trump’s desire for contact, but so far there have been no formal requests. It would be more appropriate to wait for Trump to take office first, Peskov said.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Putin.