Trump calls the Russia-Ukraine war ‘a bloody mess’ and signals his intention to discuss the conflict with Putin.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has said a meeting is being set up between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the Republican offered no timeline for talks between the two leaders.
“He wants to meet, and we are setting it up,” Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday.
“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,” Trump said about the Russia-Ukraine war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on 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.
The US president-elect made his statement about meeting Putin just a week and a half before taking office, following promises during his campaign to bring peace to Ukraine, at war for nearly three years following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Trump has never made any concrete proposals for a ceasefire or peace deal. But he has floated proposals to end the war with his advisers which includes ceding large parts of Ukraine to Russia for the foreseeable future.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Putin.
In an interview with Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, released on November 29, Zelenskyy said the “hot phase” of the war could end if NATO offered security guarantees for the part of Ukraine currently under Kyiv’s control.
Zelenskyy added that the return of land occupied by Russia at the moment could be diplomatically negotiated later.
But Trump has frequently mocked Zelenskyy as a “salesman,” and caused concern among allies by rarely criticising Putin.
On Tuesday, he also told reporters he sympathised with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO.
“A big part of the problem is, Russia – for many, many years, long before Putin – said, ‘You could never have NATO involved with Ukraine.’ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone,” he said.
“And somewhere along the line, [outgoing President Joe] Biden said, ‘No. They should be able to join NATO.’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.”
Trump has also often criticised the large amount of military aid the US has sent to Kyiv.
Since the Russian invasion began, the US under Democratic President Joe Biden has committed more than $175bn in aid for Ukraine, including more than $60bn in security assistance.
However, it is uncertain if the aid will continue at that pace under Trump, who has said he wants to bring the war to a swift end.
Trump has also persistently complained that Washington’s NATO partners are not spending enough on defence and suggested that the US could revisit its commitment to the military alliance unless they increase their spending.
Most European members have recently moved to raise their spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product, NATO’s current minimum recommendation.
However, Trump demanded a significant hike on Tuesday, calling for spending of 5 percent.