(LONDON) — The peace talks in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia — led by a U.S. delegation headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — ended after less than two hours on Friday following a day of confusion on Thursday.
Notably absent from the talks, however, are Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is in Albania, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is in Moscow. The talks lasted just one hour and 50 minutes, according to Turkish and Ukrainian officials.
President Donald Trump said Friday morning in Abu Dhabi that he wants to meet with Putin “as soon as we can set it up” to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
“We’re going to do it,” Trump said. “I actually think it’s time for us to do it.”
Trump suggested that “in two or three weeks” the world could be “a much, much safer place.”
“I will tell you that the world is a much safer place right now, and I think in two or three weeks we could have it be a much, much safer place,” Trump said. “We’re going to handle a couple of situations that you have here with some very serious situations. and we’re looking at Gaza, and we’ve got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people. There’s a lot of bad things going on.”
A Ukrainian diplomatic source in Istanbul has told ABC News that “we value President Trump’s genuine effort to end the war and stop the killing. Ukraine itself is the country that wants peace more than anyone else.”
“We’re going to get it done,” Trump said of Ukraine negotiations. “Five thousand young people are being killed every single week on average, and we’re going to get it done.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
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