BREAKING: Trump calls for Ukraine to hold presidential election as part of peace deal with Russia

President Donald Trump was questioned about talks US officials had with Russian officials on the prospect of peace in Ukraine on Tuesday during a press conference from Mar-a-Lago, including Russia’s reported demand that Ukraine hold elections in order for a peace deal to be signed.

"We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine," Trump said, adding that the "leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4 percent approval rating" and most of the country has been "blown to smithereens."

"And yeah, I would say that, you know, when they want a seat at the table, you could say the people have to — wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have to say, like, you know, it’s been a long time since we’ve had an election," Trump continued.

"That’s not a Russia thing, that’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries." 

Trump also said that European countries need to start paying their fair share and "they have to find out where is the money going to," adding, "President Zelensky said last week that he doesn’t know where half of the money is that we gave him." Trump noted, "we have to equalize with Europe," noting that the US has paid far more than the European nations and "we have an ocean in between" Ukraine and the US.

"I want to see peace. Look, you know why I won? Because I don't want all these people killed anymore. I'm looking at people that are being killed, and they're Russian and Ukrainian people, but they're people, doesn't matter where they're from on the whole planet. And I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it's going very well, but today I heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it."