US President-elect Donald Trump delivers a speech at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, USA on December 16, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
President-elect Trump said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed interest in holding a meeting on the war in Ukraine.
“President Putin said he hopes to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said in a speech at the Turning Point America Day conference. “So we have to wait, but we have to end that war. It was a terrible war.”
Trump, who is about to return to the White House in January, previously said during the campaign that if elected, he could end the war “within 24 hours.” The president-elect recently criticized President Joe Biden’s policy changes that allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to attack Russian territory.
The president-elect also recently said Ukraine “may” receive less military aid once he takes office. Ukraine relies heavily on international partners for military, financial and humanitarian aid to allow it to continue to function as a country and fight Russia after nearly three years of war.
“The number of soldiers killed…” Trump said on Sunday. “It’s a flat plane, bullets are flying, there are powerful bullets, powerful guns, and the only thing that can stop them is the human body.”
Earlier this month, Trump met with Ukrainian President Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris ahead of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. After the meeting, Trump called for an “immediate ceasefire.”
— NBC News contributed reporting.
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