US President Donald Trump said Monday that he wants a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding ceasefire negotiations between the Eastern European countries. However, Trump told reporters that he only intends to speak with Zelensky after his already scheduled meeting with Putin for next Friday, August 15.

"I would say he [Zelensky] could go [on Friday], but he's already been to a lot of meetings. (...) He's been there for three and a half years and nothing has happened," criticized the American president, quoted by Bloomberg.

Despite the barbs, Trump supports a meeting between the leaders of the two warring countries and has expressed his willingness to mediate such a meeting, if necessary.

"I'm going to talk to Vladimir Putin and I'm going to tell him he has to end this war. He has to end it," Trump said at a White House press conference, referring to the meeting he will have with the Russian president on August 15. Donald Trump also took the opportunity to shake off some of the expectations that have been building around the meeting with his Russian counterpart."It's not up to me to make a deal. But a deal can be reached by both of us," he added.

Donald Trump also confirmed that he intends to speak with his European partners and with Volodymyr Zelensky immediately after the end of the meeting with Vladimir Putin: either to discuss the outlines of a possible ceasefire agreement or to say whether he thinks an agreement will not be possible.

The US president also admitted that a ceasefire agreement could effectively involve ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia, referring to"some changes" in the territory. But he also assured that he would"try to regain some territory from Ukraine."

On Sunday, US Vice President J.D. Vance had warned of the likelihood of"Russians and Ukrainians being unhappy" with a possible ceasefire agreement.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.