U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wanted to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible to secure an end to the war with Ukraine and expressed a desire to work towards cutting nuclear arms,
Reuters reports.
In the run-up to his Nov. 5 election victory, Trump declared many times that he would have a deal in place between Ukraine and Russia on his first day in office, if not before. His advisers now concede the war will take months to resolve.
"I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended," Trump, who returned to the White House on Monday, told the World Economic Forum in Davos via video link.
"And that's not from the standpoint of economy or anything else. It's from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted ... It's a carnage. And we really have to stop that war."
Speaking at the White House later in the day, Trump told reporters he was ready to meet with Putin as soon as possible to end what he called a ridiculous war.
"From what I hear, Putin would like to see me, and we'll leave as soon as we can. I'd meet immediately," Trump said. "Everyday we don't meet, soldiers are being killed in the battlefield."
Trump added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had told him he was ready to make a deal to end the war.
Trump told participants in Davos that U.S. efforts to secure a peace settlement were now hopefully under way, but gave no details. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
