President Donald Trump says he is in "serious talks" with Vladimir Putin over "major economic transactions" between Russia and the US.

       In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said the talks also involved ending the war and were "proceeding very well".

       Mr Trump made the comments as he welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House for talks on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

       Last week he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a dictator” and a reporter in Washington asked whether he would use the same words regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin.

       Mr Trump responded: “I don’t use those words lightly.”

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       He added that he believes he was close to getting the war “solved”.

       “I think that we’re going to see how it all works out, let’s see what happens,” he continued.

       “I think we have a chance of a really good settlement between various countries and you’re talking about Europe and you’re talking about Ukraine as part of that whole situation.

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       “The other side has a lot of support also, so let’s see how it all works out.

       “You can never make up lives… you can make up money but you can never make up the lives.

       “A lot of lives [have been] lost and I think probably a lot more lives than people are talking about. It's been a rough war, but I think we’re close to getting it solved.”

       The US President, who is looking to end the war quickly, told reporters that a deal for access to Ukraine’s rare mineral is “getting very close”.

       He said the USwould get “its money back” but when asked about security guarantees for Ukraine, Mr Trump responded: “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens.”

       The idea was initially proposed last year by Mr Zelensky as part of his plan to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Moscow.

       It’s not clear whether the White House has offered Ukraine any security guarantees in the emerging deal.

       Mr Trump told reporters he will meet Mr Zelensky to sign a minerals deal potentially as soon as “this week or next week”.

       He said they would meet in the Oval Office.