Donald Trump said he wants Russian President Vladimir Putin to "make a deal" to end the war in Ukraine, CNN reports.

According to the US president, Putin will see things through and will agree to end the war in any case. Trump added that he would not want to impose tariffs on Russian oil, which he had previously announced.

"I want to see him [i.e. Putin] make a deal so that we stop Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers, and other people from being killed. (…). I don't want to go secondary tariffs on his oil, but it is something I would do if I thought he wasn't doing the job," Trump said in a White House briefing.

In addition, he touched on the topic of Ukraine's mineral resources. The US President stated that the Ukrainian side allegedly demands NATO membership in exchange for signing the respective document.

"We made a deal on rare earth, and now he's [i.e. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] saying, ‘well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal.’ He wants to be a member of NATO. Well, he was never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that,” the White House chief said, noting that first, it was never discussed. And second, he believes they were told long before Putin that NATO would not accept Ukraine.

The American leader added that the reason for the start of this war was probably the matter of Ukraine's membership in, or its aspirations toward, NATO.