President-elect Donald Trump said a meeting is being arranged between him and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, without giving a timetable for the talks.

Putin wants a meeting and we are arranging it,’ Trump said in remarks ahead of a meeting with Republican governors in Florida on Thursday.

Commenting on the war between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said: ‘President Putin wants to meet, he’s said it publicly, and we’ve got to end this war, it’s a bloody mess.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Putin would welcome Trump’s desire for contact, but that so far no official requests had been made and that it would be more appropriate to wait for Trump to take office.

The comments come as Trump is set to return to the White House on 20 January amid talk of a possible diplomatic solution to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, which began in February 2022.