Trump says he is 'reasonably close' to deal to end Russia-Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he thinks he is 'reasonably close' to a deal on stopping the Russia-Ukraine war, though he had earlier thought it would be an easier one for him to settle in a matter of hours.

He also said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be stupid if they don't end it now, and that he knows they are not stupid.

Speaking here during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Trump said he is good at the 'stuff (settling wars) though the United Nations should be doing it.

"I hate to say, I thought that was going to be so, I settled for four plus. And I thought that was going to be one of my easier ones. Not the easiest, so settled in a matter of hours," Trump said in reply to a question on the Ukraine war.

"It's got to get done. Saving a lot of lives, saving millions of lives. With Ukraine and Russia, this tremendous hatred between President Zelensky and President Putin. That's not good. That's not good for settlements," he said.

"I think Russia wants to make a deal. I think Ukraine wants to make a deal. And we're going to try getting a deal done... I think I can say that we're reasonably close," he said.

Trump said many times we had a deal with Russia, and Zelenskyy didn't agree... It's a very difficult balance," he said.

Trump said, "it's a blood bath. It's horrible what's happening. Drones are killing thousands of people a week. We have to get it stopped."  "So I believe they're at a point now. I'm going to meet with President Zelensky later today. I believe they're at a point now where they come together and get a deal done," he said.

"And if they don't, they're stupid; it's for both of them. And I know they're not stupid. But if they don't get this done, they are stupid. So, I don't want to insult anyone, but you got to get this deal done. Too many people are dying. It's not worth it," he said.

On China, Trump said he has always had a very good relationship with President Xi of China.

"He's an incredible man. And what he's done is amazing," he said, adding his relationship with Xi was very severely interrupted by COVID.

"I used to call it the China virus, but he said, do you think you could use a different name? And I decided to do that. Because why should we have a problem over that? But, I would do that ... I became a diplomat for the first time," he said.

On Greenland, he said it is costing Denmark hundreds of billions a year to run it and Denmark's a small country with wonderful people.

"But you know, it's very expensive. It's a very big piece of ice. And it's very important... It's very important that we use that for national and international security," he said.

"That can create a power that will make it impossible for the bad guys to do anything against the perceived good ones," he said.

"Without us (in the Ukraine war), I think there could have been a World War III. If you want to know the truth, if Kamala (Harris) was elected, or Joe, any one of those leaders, I think you could have ended up in World War III," he said.

But, we're not going to have World War III now, and we want to get it stopped. It would have been a very, very bad situation. And it still is, but it's not that kind of bad. It's bad because so many young people have been killed," he said.