Trump prepares for meeting with Russian dictator Putin – Reuters

The newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced preparations for a meeting with the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, but did not specify a specific date for the negotiations.

Reuters reported that.

During a speech to Republican governors at his residence in Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump said that Putin expressed a desire to meet, and preparations for this meeting are currently underway.

"He wants to meet, and we are preparing for it," Trump said.

Trump did not name a specific date for the negotiations but confirmed that the meeting is being discussed.

"President Putin wants to meet. He has even stated this publicly, and we have to end this war," Trump added, referring to the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has not yet commented on Trump's statement. However, Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters the day before that if Trump maintains his intention to contact the Russian ruler after his inauguration on January 20, Moscow would welcome it.

For reference:

Representatives of US President-elect Donald Trump, in talks with European partners, admit that they will not be able to end the war in Ukraine quickly but promise to continue supporting the country.

"The whole team [Trump's – ed.] is obsessed with power and wants to look strong, so they are adjusting their approach to Ukraine," one of the sources said.

Trump's team also changed the timeframe for resolving the war in Ukraine from "24 hours" to several months, "which European partners took as a sign that his administration will not abandon its support for Kyiv immediately."

The special representative for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, appointed by Trump, stated that he had set himself the goal of trying to find a solution to the current full-scale war within 100 days of the new president's inauguration.

Keith Kellogg previously stated that he was preparing visits to listen to the parties' positions on the full-scale war. It was also reported that he was supposed to come to Kyiv in January, but the visit was postponed.

Donald Trump previously assured that in his attempts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian war, he would "not abandon Ukraine" and expressed hope that Russia's war against Ukraine could be completed in six months.

He emphasized that both Russia and Ukraine continue to lose many people. At the same time, Trump once again stressed that if he were president, "this war would never have happened."

Donald Trump also noted that Russian President Putin wants to meet with him, and this meeting, according to him, could take place after the inauguration.

"I don't think it would be appropriate to meet before January 20," the Republican president-elect said.