Trump admits failure to end Russia-Ukraine war, calls it 'most difficult'

US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) admitted to not being able to fulfil one of his campaign promises, which helped him to win a second term in the White House, acknowledging his failure to stop the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, describing it as "probably the most difficult" conflict he faced during his administration.

Speaking at the first dinner with the US Congress held at the newly renovated Rose Garden at the White House, Trump again claimed credit for helping end several long-standing global conflicts but noted that, despite his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, stopping the conflict in Ukraine was the "most difficult".

"Nobody has done what we did in seven months. We stopped seven wars. The war that was that I thought would probably be the easiest was the most difficult: that of Russia and Ukraine. I thought it would be easiest because of the relation with President Putin... It didn't matter. It ended up being probably the most difficult," Trump said.

"One of the wars was going on for 31 years - that was said to be unstoppable, and I got it done in about 2 hours; another one was on for 35 years and another one for 37 years," he added.

During his campaign for the office, Trump had made numerous claims that, should he be elected, he would put an end to the war within 24 hours of entering office, but there has been no indication of a significant breakthrough as of yet.

The latest effort by the US president came during the historic Alaska summit in August. However, no formal deal was reached between the sides, despite Trump calling it a "very productive" meeting.

Earlier on Thursday (local time), Trump, in a significant shift from his usual narrative of having stopped "seven wars", said that he had stopped "three wars".

He did not specify which conflicts he was talking about, but said that those had been going on for over three decades.

"You know, I settled three wars. One was 31 years going, with a lot of people killed - 10 million people. Another was 34, and another was 37 years it was going on," he said.

Trump, while talking to reporters while hosting a high-profile dinner with top tech CEOs at the White House, was answering a question on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He said that on the already solved conflicts, people told him that he couldn't do it, but he stopped them anyway.

He said he would do the same with Moscow and Kyiv.

"People said, "You can't settle them." And I settled them. This one turned out to be more difficult, but we'll get it. "We're going to get it settled," he said.