US President-elect Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, USA, on December 16, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed interest in talks regarding the war with Ukraine.
“President Putin said he would like to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said while speaking at the Turning Point America Fest convention. “So we have to wait for this, but we have to end that war. That war is terrible, terrible.”
President Trump, who is scheduled to return to the White House in January next year, previously said during the campaign that he could end the war “within 24 hours” if elected. The president-elect recently criticized President Joe Biden’s policy changes that allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to attack inside Russian territory.
The president-elect also recently said Ukraine would receive less military aid once he takes office. Ukraine relies heavily on international partners for military, financial and humanitarian support so it can continue to function as a nation and fight Russia after nearly three years of war.
“It’s the number of soldiers dying,” Trump said Sunday. “It’s a flat plane, bullets are flying, powerful bullets, powerful guns, and the only thing that can stop them is the human body.”
President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris earlier this month. President Trump called for an “immediate ceasefire” after the meeting.
— NBC News contributed to this report.
