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President Donald Trump said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin "as soon as we can set it up."
Trump was speaking to reporters during his trip to the UAE, the final stop on his multiday tour of the Middle East.
"I would actually leave here and go," Trump said of meeting Putin, but he said he wanted to meet his new grandson after his daughter, Tiffany Trump, gave birth while he was away.
He added: "I think it's time for us to just do it."
Putin Skipped Zelensky Meeting
The president had said previously that nothing would happen on peace between Russia and Ukraine until he and Putin met.
He made the remarks after Putin declined to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for face-to-face talks in Istanbul, Turkey.
Instead, Putin sent a low-level delegation to the negotiations, due to begin on Friday, for the first set of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in more than three years.
Trump had demanded the meeting to take place, but later said he did not think Putin would show up unless he was there too.
"We gotta stop the killing," Trump said in the UAE, lamenting the deaths of 5,000 soldiers a week on average and calling the conflict "a war that is going nowhere."
"We're going to get it done. We've got to get it done," he said of securing peace.
The Ukrainians are calling for a full, immediate 30-day ceasefire as an initial step in the peace talks.
Russia has so far rejected a full ceasefire, saying Ukraine could use it to regroup and rearm while it is on the back foot in the war, though Moscow says it seeks peace, too.
Trump on Gaza: 'Bad Things Going on'
In the UAE, Trump addressed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid Israel's war with Hamas.
The U.S. recently secured the release of Edan Alexander, the last American hostage held in the Gaza Strip.
The Trump Administration is also leading an effort to get more aid into Gaza via private companies.
"We're looking at Gaza, we've got to get that taken care of, a lot of people are starving. There's a lot of bad things going on," Trump said.
He had earlier proposed the U.S. taking control of Gaza and turning it into a "freedom zone" during his Qatar leg of the Middle East trip.
"If it's necessary, I think I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone," Trump said in a speech to American troops.
"Let some good things happen, put people in homes where they can be safe and Hamas is going to have to be dealt with."
About the writer
Shane Croucher is a Breaking News Editor based in London, UK. He has previously overseen the My Turn, Fact Check ... Read more