WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are in the "process of setting up" a bilateral meeting, and he wants to see how the two leaders handle talks before stepping in himself.

In a phone interview on “The Mark Levin Show,” Trump said he believed it would be better for the two leaders to meet without him initially.

“I thought it would be better if they met without me, just to see. I want to see what goes on. You know, they had a hard relationship, very bad, very bad relationship. And now we’ll see how they do and, if necessary, and it probably would be, but if necessary, I’ll go and I’ll probably be able to get it closed,” he said.

“I just want to see what happens at the meeting. So they’re in the process of setting it up, and we’re going to see what happens,” he added.

Trump hosted Zelenskyy and leaders of European countries and NATO at the White House on Monday, where they discussed next steps in diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Following the talks, Trump also held a phone call with Putin.

“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself," he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.