The US President Donald Trump said he could meet with Zelensky to sign a minerals deal "this week or next week".

He told reporters about this during a meeting with French leader Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office, the BBC reports.

"I will meet with President Zelensky. In fact, he may come this week or next week to sign the deal [...] The deal is being worked on now. They are very close to a final decision", Trump says. He expressed uncertainty about when he would meet with Russian leader Putin, although he had previously said it could happen in Saudi Arabia. Trump ultimately said he would meet with Putin "at some point".

"I think the war [in Ukraine] could be over soon, within a few weeks, if we`re smart. If weʼre not smart, it`s going to go on. We don`t want that. Remember what I said, it could turn into World War III, we don`t want that either", Donald Trump added.

Journalists asked whether he believed that Kyiv would have to give up the territory as part of any peace talks. "We`ll see. These are negotiations that are just beginning", the American president replied.

Returning Ukrainian land occupied by Moscow is "not an easy task", added Donald Trump.