US President-elect Donald Trump has said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” after taking office next week.

He did not give a specific timeframe for the meeting, which would be the first between the leaders of the two countries since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022.

“Well, there’s only one strategy and that’s up to Putin. I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with the way it’s all gone because it hasn’t been going so well for him either. I know he wants to meet and I’ll meet with him soon. I would have done it sooner, but … you have to take office first. For some things, you have to be there,” Trump told Newsmax when asked about his strategy for ending the war.

U.S. Congressman Mike Walz, the incoming national security adviser, said on Sunday that he expected a phone call between Trump and Putin “in the coming days and weeks.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced millions and caused the biggest rift between Moscow and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.