Trump changed his mind: He hopes to resolve the Ukraine-Russia conflict within six months

Donald Trump, the outgoing president of the United States, repeatedly claimed during his 2020 presidential campaign that he would end Russia's war against Ukraine in one day if he won the White House. Now, with Trump set to return to the White House in less than two weeks, he has essentially backed away from that pledge. In a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, Trump said he wanted six months to end the war.

"I would like six months. No, I would like less, a lot less than six months," Trump replied when asked if he could end the war with Russia in the half-year he says he would need.

"And the reason is, look, Russia is losing many, many young people. Ukraine is losing many, many young people. This should never have happened. It's a sad situation," he said.

Trump added that he regretted that he won't be able to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before his inauguration.

"I know he'd like to meet," Trump said. "And I don't like it, because I think probably the meeting will be after the 20th, and I wish it was before the 20th, I really do. I'd like to see the guy. But I know he wants it, too. Because every day that goes by, people – a lot of young people – are being killed."

Putin, for his part, recently stated that he would be open to meeting with Trump before he leaves office at the end of January. In a "Year in Review" news conference on December 19, Putin said, "I consider myself ready for any dialogue, for any contacts."

"I only don't know when this could happen," he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made headlines late last week when he stated that Trump, whom he described as "tough and unpredictable," could be the person to end Russia's war of aggression. Zelenskiy, who said his opinion was "subjective," nonetheless admitted that there was little chance that the nearly three-year-old war would end so abruptly as Trump had often threatened during the 2020 presidential campaign.

Speaking to a group of conservative activists in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday, Trump also addressed the topic of Ukraine joining NATO. "I would also say – and I've said this before – I happen to agree with the Russians that [Ukraine] should never join. They shouldn't be allowed to join. I've said it before," he stated. "That's part of the problem here."

Trump also criticized outgoing President Joe Biden, claiming that he changed the US position on whether Ukraine should join the alliance. "The big part of the problem is that Russia, many, many years ago, well before Putin was in power, they said, 'You will never bring Ukraine into NATO,'" Trump claimed. "'You will never do it.' Well, they did say that. It was like it was written in stone."

"Then at some point, Biden said, 'No, they should be allowed to join.' Okay, so now there's going to be a NATO country right at the gates of Russia? I can understand how they would feel about this very strongly," Trump added.

Zelenskiy has lobbied world leaders for a formal NATO membership invitation, which he believes would make Russia "100 times" less likely to strike again following its full-scale invasion in February 2022. But there appears to be little appetite for NATO expansion among alliance members, some of which have been wary of provoking Russia by moving NATO closer to its borders. The Biden administration, despite having offered verbal support for Ukraine joining NATO on multiple occasions over the past two years, has been similarly cautious when it comes to taking meaningful action on the issue.

Trump's aides and advisers, meanwhile, are strongly opposed to Ukraine joining NATO – in the near or distant future. They do not want to antagonize the Kremlin and risk destabilizing US-Russian relations any further than they already are.