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U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he expects to speak soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed optimism about ending the Ukraine conflict, while acknowledging the task has proven more difficult than anticipated.
Speaking at the White House while hosting tech executives, Trump said he is having "a very good dialogue" with Putin but noted that 7,014 people were killed this week alone in Russia's war on Ukraine.
"This one turned out to be more difficult, but we're going to get it done," Trump said, reiterating his long-stated position that he thought he would be able to quickly wrap up the Russian war after assuming office.
"We'll get it done," the president emphasized.
Trump had previously reiterated his commitment on Wednesday amid growing uncertainty over whether a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy—a key step ahead of a proposed trilateral with Trump—will materialize.
"I've been watching it, I've been seeing it, and I've been talking about it with President Putin and President Zelenskyy," Trump said in an interview with CBS News.
"Something is going to happen, but they are not ready yet. But something is going to happen," he added.
Trump urged European leaders Thursday to stop buying Russian oil to pressure Moscow to end its war on Ukraine and said economic pressure should be applied on China "for funding Russia's war efforts," according to a White House official.
The president made the appeal when he called into a "coalition of the willing" meeting hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris that seeks to rally support for Ukraine.
"President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war—as Russia received €1.1 billion ($1.28 billion) in fuel sales from the EU in one year," the official said in a statement.
"The president also emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia's war efforts," the official added.
The White House official said Trump will soon be making an announcement regarding Russia but did not lay out a firm timeline. During the Paris call, "diverging views among European leaders on how to address the ongoing conflict" became apparent, the official noted.
In a separate development, Trump will sign an executive order Friday to rename the Department of Defense the "Department of War," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday.
The order calls for using the "Department of War" as a secondary title for the Defense Department and directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to adopt the additional title of "Secretary of War."
The Pentagon held this historic title until 1949 before the agency was reorganized as the Department of Defense under the National Security Act of 1947.
The order instructs Hegseth to propose legislative and executive measures to make the change permanent and calls for updates to Pentagon signage and websites, including renaming the public affairs briefing room the "Pentagon War Annex," a White House official told Fox News.
"Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was the Department of War," Trump told reporters on Aug. 25.
Hegseth said the move reflects a cultural shift within the department.
"We're not just defense, we're offense," Hegseth added.
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