Trump highlights need to end Ukraine war, wants to get Russia back into G7

US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) again asserted the need to end the "ridiculous war" between Russia and Ukraine, citing the massive loss of lives and infrastructure.

Trump's remarks come a day after he held a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The US President strongly affirmed that both Putin and Zelenskyy want to end the war with a deal.

"The Ukraine war has to end. The young people are being killed at levels that nobody has seen since World War II. And it's a ridiculous war, and it has to end. We had a good talk with President Putin. I had a good talk with President Zelenskyy, very good talk. And somebody said, oh, I should have called Zelenskyy first. I don't think so. I know that Zelenskyy wants to make a deal because he told me that. But I now know that Russia wants to make a deal," Trump told reporters.

He further reiterated his claim that had he been the President, the Russia-Ukraine war hadn't started.

"I don't see any way that a country in Russia's position could allow them to join NATO. I don't see that happening. Long before President Putin, Russia was very strong on the fact that I believe that's the reason the war started because Biden went out and said that they could join NATO, and he shouldn't have said that. As soon as he said that, I said, you know what, you're going to have a war now. And I was right about that. This is a war that would have never happened if I were President," Trump further said.

In a major statement, the US President also called for the readmission of Russia from the G7 grouping, callieng thir expulsion a "mistake". Notably, Russia was removed from the G7 grouping after it launched an attack on Georgia in 2008.

"I would love to have them back (Russia in G7). I think it was a mistake to throw them out... I think Putin would love to be back. Obama and a couple of other people made a mistake, and they got Russia out. It's very possible that if that was the G8 we wouldn't have had the problem with Ukraine. And if I were the President, you would definitely wouldn't have had the problem with Ukraine, Russia would never had attacked Ukraine.

Speaking on his telephone call with Putin, Trump said that the Russian President wants peace.

"...I believe that President Putin, when I spoke to him yesterday, wants peace. I think he would tell me if he didn't. I think he would like to see peace," Trump said.

Earlier this week, Trump held a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He revealed that he had a productive phone call with him, where they agreed to kick-start negotiations aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine immediately.

The White House said that the calls between Zelenskyy and Trump were "very positive" and affirmed the US government's commitment to a "peace deal" and ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.