US President-elect Donald Trump attends Turning Point USA’s America Fest in Phoenix, Arizona, USA on December 22, 2024.
Cheney Orr | 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 wanted to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said in remarks at Turning Point’s America Fest convention. “So we have to wait for this, but we have to end that war. That war is horrible, horrible.”
Trump, who is scheduled to return to the White House in January, 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 change that allowed Ukraine to attack inside Russian territory using weapons supplied by the United States.
The president-elect recently said that once he takes office, Ukraine will “probably” receive less military aid. Ukraine relies heavily on international partners for military, financial and humanitarian aid that allows it to continue functioning as a state and fight Russia after nearly three years of war.
“It’s the number of soldiers killed,” President Trump said Sunday. “This is a flat plane, and bullets are flying, and there are powerful bullets and powerful guns. And the only thing that can stop it is the human body.”
Earlier this month, President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Paris, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, ahead of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. After the meeting, President Trump called for an “immediate ceasefire.”
—NBC News contributed reporting.
