Donald Trump says he would speak to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to end the “carnage” of almost three years of war, as the Kremlin leader lauded Russian army successes on the ground.
Both sides have rushed to gain an advantage on the battlefield ahead of Trump entering the White House in January, and there has been some alarm in Ukraine that it will be forced to make territorial concessions in exchange for peace.
Trump has been highly critical of billions of dollars of aid that Joe Biden’s administration provided to Kyiv to battle Moscow’s invasion.
He spoke Monday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as Putin hailed his army’s accelerating advance in Ukraine in what he called a “landmark” year.
“We’ll be talking to President Putin, and we’ll be talking to the representatives, Zelensky and representatives from Ukraine,” Trump said.
“We gotta stop it, it’s carnage,” he added, referring to the war.
Trump has repeatedly claimed he could swiftly end the conflict but has not provided concrete details on how.
His comments Monday come after he called for an “immediate ceasefire” earlier this month and said “negotiations should begin.”
Trump met Zelensky in a meeting hosted by French leader Emmanuel Macron in Paris this month, after which the Ukrainian leader said he had argued that Kyiv is seeking an “enduring” peace and “security guarantees.”
