Trump says he, Putin and Zelensky will meet together — but ‘maybe they have to fight a little longer’ first

President Trump says a trilateral meeting between himself, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky “will happen” — but likely not before the war goes on “a little longer.”

The commander-in-chief Saturday poured cold water on any chance of a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky to lay the groundwork for peace but said a summit between the two leaders is sure to happen as long as he’s involved.

“A tri would happen. A bi, I don’t know about, but a tri will happen,” Trump told the Daily Caller. “But you know, sometimes people aren’t ready for it.”

Trump has met with Putin and Zelensky separately to draw out both leaders’ terms for ending the war, with Ukraine agreeing to a US-backed cease-fire proposal but Russia refusing to make concessions.

Putin has repeatedly rejected proposals to meet with Zelensky, arguing the Ukrainian president is an illegitimate leader after elections were suspended in Kyiv because of the Russian invasion.

Moscow has since suggested that lower-level officials from the two nations meet first to hash out the details of a peace deal before a Putin-Zelensky summit.

Zelensky slammed the notion Friday, calling it yet another attempt from Russia to stall meaningful peace talks while it continues to bombards Ukraine daily with hundreds of drones and missiles.

“They want to show the United States that they are constructive, but they are not constructive,” Zelensky told reporters of Putin and his minions. “In my opinion, leaders must urgently be involved to reach agreements.”

While Trump touted his relationship with Putin as a strength to push the Russian leader to meet with Zelensky, he also said, “Maybe they have to fight a little longer” before such a summit can happen.

“I use the analogy. I’ve used it a couple of times. You have a child, and there’s another child in the lot, in the playground, and they hate each other, and they start swinging, swinging and swinging, and you want them to stop, and they keep going,” Trump said.

“After a little while, they’re very happy to stop. … Sometimes they have to fight for a little bit before you can get them to stop,” he added.

“But this has been going on for a long time. A lot of people are dead.”

The war in Ukraine, which is in its third year, has become the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, with the estimated casualties hitting 1.4 million, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The estimate projects the Russian soldier death toll at around 250,000, along with 100,000 slain Ukrainian troops.

“I’d like to see something get solved. They’re not our soldiers, but there are five to 7,000, mostly young people, being killed every single week,” Trump said of the bloodshed.

While the president has ruled out deploying US troops to serve as a security guarantee in Ukraine after the war, he said it was possible to send in air support to provide defense for Kyiv post-conflict.