President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that his team is working to set up meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“He wants to meet, and we're setting things up,” he told reporters at a press conference at his club Mar-a-Lago, referring to Putin. “President Xi – we have had a lot of communication, we have set up a lot of meetings with a lot of people.
“I would rather wait until after the 20th,” he added, referring to the inauguration ceremony later this month.
President Trump added, “President Putin would like to have a meeting.'' “We have to end that war.”
Then-President Donald Trump (right) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin during bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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President Trump pointed to the “staggering” casualties suffered by both Russia and Ukraine, and suggested that civilian casualties were likely much higher than reported.
Russia's TASS news agency reported that the Kremlin confirmed Trump's comments on Friday and said it was ready to “resolve the issue through dialogue.”
Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Trump's appointed special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News Digital that he has set a goal of ending the war in Ukraine within his first 100 days in office.
Kellogg described the war as a “genocide” but said he was confident Trump could end it “soon.”
The retired three-star general told Fox News' “American Report” Thursday that he intends to make sure the cease-fire agreement with President Trump is “fair” and “equitable,” but he wasn't sure what that meant. He did not go into details. Withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine's internationally recognized borders.
Former President Donald Trump (right) speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Trump Tower on Friday, September 27, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nickinson)
President Trump has not provided details on how he intends to end the three-year war, but may support President Putin's call to bar Ukraine from joining the NATO alliance. “I understand,” he told reporters on Thursday. [Putin’s] Right next to them is the feeling that they don't want NATO.
Before invading Ukraine, Moscow already had four members of the International Security Alliance near its borders, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Finland subsequently joined NATO in 2023, applying for membership just three months after the invasion on February 22, 2022.
Russia and Kiev have made it clear that the provisions surrounding Ukraine's NATO membership are non-negotiable.
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On June 29, 2019, then-President Trump (left) speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
President Trump has not provided details on when he might meet with the Chinese president, and it remains unclear whether President Xi plans to meet directly.
Trump reportedly invited Xi to the inauguration, but Beijing said it would send a top-level envoy instead, which is more in line with tradition.
In his last meeting with President Biden in November, President Xi had expressed his intention to cooperate with the former US president and soon-to-be-sworn-in President Biden.
But President Trump, who once said he was “in love” with Mr. Xi, pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China in late November, and then this week announced a bid to seize the U.S.-returned Panama Canal. He said he would consider military action. It signed an agreement with Panama in 1979 and ended the partnership over the management of strategic thoroughfares in 1999.
“The Panama Canal is extremely important to our country, and it's run by China. We gave it to Panama, we didn't give it to China,” he added.
Marshall Islands cargo ship Cape Hellas and Portuguese cargo ship MSC Elma sailing through Gatun Lake near the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon City, Panama, December 28, 2024. (Arnulfo Franco/AFP via Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Panamanian embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment, but no one was immediately available.
President Trump's transition team did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital about concerns about provoking a military conflict with China in Panama.
