President-elect Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to have a phone call in the coming days or weeks, Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), said on Sunday.
In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” Waltz said “the preparations are underway” for a meeting between Trump and Putin.
“I do expect a call … at least in the coming days and weeks,” Waltz said. “So, that would be a step, and we’ll take it from there.”
Trump said on Thursday that he’s working to set up a meeting with Putin, telling reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate that Putin “wants to meet. And we’re setting that up.”
Trump noted at the time he’s had “a lot of communication” with Chinese President Xi Jinping and has spoken with numerous other world leaders. But he has yet to speak with Putin.
“But President Putin wants to meet. He’s said that even publicly, and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Trump said of the war in Ukraine.
Trump has vowed to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which began in early 2022 when Russian forces invaded their neighbor. He has said he would bring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the negotiating table.
Waltz, in the interview Sunday, said it was not yet clear whether the first call between the world leaders would include Zelensky.
“Well, we haven’t set the exact framework for it yet. We’re working on that,” Waltz said, when asked about Zelensky.
“From President Trump’s perspective, you can’t enter a deal if you don’t have some type of relationship and dialog with the other side. And we will absolutely establish that in the coming months,” Waltz said.
Waltz also said he would “like to see a ceasefire any minute, any day” in the Russian-Ukraine war, which he said would be “incredibly positive first step… that would then allow us to enter into the framework of some type of negotiated solution here.”
“Everybody knows that this has to end somehow diplomatically,” Waltz said. “I just don’t think it’s realistic to say we’re going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea. President Trump has acknowledged that reality, and I think it’s been a huge step forward that the entire world is acknowledging that reality.”
