"He wants to meet, and we are setting it up," Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
"President Putin wants to meet," Trump added, as cited by Reuters. "He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That's a bloody mess."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday reaffirmed Putin's readiness for talks with Trump, saying that Russia welcomes Trump's stated willingness to resolve problems through dialogue, Reuters reported.
The Financial Times reported last month that Trump would continue supplying military aid to Ukraine, but wants NATO member states to increase defence spending to 5 percent of their GDP.
This marks a shift from Trump's campaign rhetoric, during which he vowed to cut off aid to Ukraine, force Kyiv into immediate peace talks, and leave NATO allies undefended if they failed to meet defence spending targets, according to the FT.
The plan is seen as reassuring for allies concerned about their ability to support and defend Ukraine without US backing, the FT said.
Trump, who is set to return to the White House on January 20, claimed on the campaign trail that if elected, he could end the war "in 24 hours," according to US broadcaster CNBC.
Trump in December called for an "immediate ceasefire" in Ukraine after a meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, according to reports at the time.
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Source: PAP, Reuters