On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that his administration has already engaged in "very serious" discussions with Russia regarding its war in Ukraine, and that he and Vladimir Putin may soon take "significant" actions to end the ongoing conflict, reports the Associated Press.
"We will be talking, and I think we may do something significant," Trump said during a conversation with reporters in the Oval Office. "We want to end this war. This war would not have started if I were president," he reiterated.
Trump did not specify who from his administration had been in contact with the Russians, but insisted that both sides are "already talking."
When asked if he had spoken directly with Putin, Trump responded cautiously: "I don’t want to say that."
According to AP, Trump has repeatedly claimed that the conflict would not have begun if he were in office, despite the fact that he was president when "hostilities were escalating in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv's forces and separatists supported by Moscow, before Putin sent tens of thousands of troops there in 2022."