Donald Trump has said he expects to meet with Vladimir Putin within six months to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The announcement was made during a press conference at his residence in Mar-a-Lago.
J: How soon do you anticipate going to meet with Putin to discuss the Ukraine situation?
T: Well I can't tell you that, but i know that Putin would like to meet. I don't think it's appropriate that I meet him until after the 20th, which I HATE, because every day people are being… many, many young people are being killed, soldiers. You know, the land is very flat, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers from each — many hundreds of thousands from each side — are dead. And they're laying in fields. All over the place — nobody to even collect [them]. There's landmines all over… it's a disaster. But it's very flat, it's great, it's farmland, and it's very, very flat. And the only thing that stops a bullet is the human body. And the human body is stopping a lot of bullets.
J: Will you be having a conversation within the first three to six months?
T: I hope… I hope to have six months. No, I would think… I hope long before six months.
In May 2023, Trump stated that if he were president, he would stop the war in 24 hours, “I would meet with Putin, I would meet with Zelensky. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and within 24 hours the conflict would have been settled, the war would have ended.” Nevertheless, he did not answer a CNN reporter's question about whether he wanted Ukraine to win.