President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed interest in meeting in regards to the war with Ukraine.
“President Putin said he wants to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said during his speech at Turning Point’s America Fest convention. “So we have to wait for it, but we have to end this war. This war is terrible, terrible.”
Trump, who is anticipated to return to the White House in January, had previously said on the campaign trail that if elected he could end the war “in 24 hours.” The president-elect recently criticized President Joe Biden's policy shift that allowed Ukraine to make use of U.S.-supplied weapons to perform attacks on Russian territory.
The president-elect also recently said that Ukraine “may” receive less military aid after he takes office. Ukraine relies heavily on military, financial and humanitarian assistance from its international partners to enable it to proceed to operate as a state and fight against Russia after nearly three years of war.
“The number of soldiers killed…” Trump said on Sunday. “It's a flat plane and the bullets are shooting and there are powerful bullets, powerful weapons, and the only thing that can stop them is a human body.”
Earlier this month, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. After the meeting, Trump called for an “immediate ceasefire.”
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