President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he believes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin are close to a peace agreement but warned that both leaders would be "stupid" if they fail to reach a deal to end the war.
"I believe they're at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done, and if they don't, they're stupid," Trump said during a question-and-answer session after his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, carried live on Newsmax and Newsmax2.
"That goes for both of them," he added. "I know they're not stupid, but if they don't get this done, they are stupid.
"So I don't want to insult anyone, but you've got to get this deal done."
"Too many people are dying. It's not worth it," Trump said.
Trump also cast the war as a major global-risk flash point, saying he believes the conflict could have escalated into a broader confrontation without U.S. involvement under his administration.
"But I think it's time that NATO steps up," Trump said.
"We're helping them with Ukraine. Without us, I think Putin would have gone all the way … I think that could have been a World War III, if you want to know the truth."
He said his administration is pressing for an agreement and credited his envoy, Steve Witkoff, with ongoing diplomacy.
"I will say, Steve Witkoff has been dealing incredibly with Putin. We're not going to have World War III."
"We want to get it stopped," added Trump. "We're saving millions of lives with Ukraine, Russia."
Witkoff is traveling with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Moscow on Thursday, where they will meet with Putin, according to reports.
Trump said he expects to meet with Zelenskyy later Wednesday in Davos and described the negotiations as complicated by what he called deep animosity between the two leaders.
"There's tremendous hatred between President Zelenskyy and President Putin," Trump explained.
"That's not good. That's not good for settlements."
"With that being said, I think Russia wants to make a deal," he added. "I think Ukraine wants to make a deal."
"And we're going to try getting a deal done."
He also described a back-and-forth dynamic in the talks, saying the deal has stalled at times depending on which side is ready to accept terms.
"What happens is, oftentimes, we'll have a deal with Russia," he said. "Russia is set, and President Zelenskyy will not do it."
"And then we'll have President Zelenskyy wants to make a deal, and Putin doesn't want to make the deal."
Calling the war "a bloodbath," Trump said he wants an agreement quickly, pointing to the heavy toll from battlefield technology.
"It is, you know, to use a word, it's a bloodbath. It's horrible what's happening."
"It's a drone war," Trump said. "The drones are killing thousands of people a week."
"Thousands," he repeated, "We have to get it stopped."
Separately, Trump reiterated his long-running complaints about the NATO burden-sharing debate, saying he pushed allies to contribute more.
"We actually took care of the needs of NATO for years and years, which I felt was always unfair," he said. "So I got NATO to pay because they're rich countries."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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