US President Donald Trump has said he is ready to hold another summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but only if Moscow is prepared to move toward a peace agreement to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, local time, Trump said he believes Putin would also be interested in holding another meeting. However, he wants the summit to take place at the right moment.

Trump said, “He would be willing, I would be willing. But I want to do the meeting when we’re ready for a peace deal.”

The US president said Washington should maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine. According to him, maintaining strong ties with both countries would also benefit US business and trade.

Trump said a meeting with Putin could be arranged quickly, but he would rather wait until there is greater progress toward ending the war.

“I want to do it when that war is over. And I think we’re going to be able to do that,” Trump said.

Trump also reiterated his long-standing position that the Russia-Ukraine war should never have happened. He claimed that the conflict would not have started had he been re-elected in the 2020 US presidential election.

He said that during his first term, from 2016 to 2020, he regularly spoke with Putin and that there was no possibility of a Russia-Ukraine war breaking out during that period.

Trump said he had believed the situation could move toward war after his term in office ended. He described the development as “crazy.”

Referring to the deep tensions between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump said the situation would gradually reach a point when the right opportunity for a solution emerges.