US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he intends to hold talks on the war in Ukraine in the coming days after his August summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce any progress.
Trump is frustrated by his inability to stop Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, after initially predicting he would be able to end it quickly when he took office in January.
Trump said the talks would take place in the coming days.
A White House official said Trump is expected to speak by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.
The French presidency said earlier on Wednesday that several European leaders, including Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron, would call Trump on Thursday afternoon.
The call is expected to follow a largely virtual meeting on Thursday, hosted by France, with about 30 countries, to discuss their latest efforts to offer Ukraine security guarantees once a peace deal with Russia is in place.
European leaders are also expected to condemn Moscow for its unwillingness to hold peace talks.
Putin has shown little interest in ending the war, after he and Trump expressed optimism about making progress during their meeting in Alaska on August 15.
"I don't have any message for President Putin," Trump told reporters at the White House during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
"He knows my position and he will make a decision one way or another. Whatever decision he makes, we will either be happy with it or unhappy, and if we are unhappy, you will see what happens," he said.
Trump did not clarify what he meant, but he has previously spoken about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia.
Trump also said that the war would be resolved "one way or another," but that he had not realized it would be so difficult to end.
"I thought this would be a lot easier," Trump said. "I thought it would be somewhere in the middle of the list, maybe one of the easiest. As far as war goes, you never know," he said./REL
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