Trump now says he can end the Russia-Ukraine war before he's even sworn into office

Former President Donald Trump said that, should he win the presidency in the November elections, he would negotiate peace between Ukraine and Russia before his inauguration, as he wants the war "settled."

"I know President Putin very well. I want to see the death stopping. There's death and there's destruction. They are destroying the whole fabric of a certain part of the world. I want to get it negotiated, and get it done," Trump told Breitbart.

He went on to claim that his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would not seek to put an end to the war and that "millions of people will die" in that scenario. "She wouldn't handle it at all. I don't think she'd do anything," said Trump, warning of a global war.

"She's got no capability to get it done. I want to get it done. I've always had a very good relationship with both men and I think I'm in a very good position. It would have been easier to get done—it would have never started. If I were there, it would have never started," Trump said in another passage of the interview.

The statement comes as the war continues to rage on, with new developments changing the landscape as Ukraine is pressing on with a major cross-border incursion into Russian territory and launching an air attack on an airfield behind the front lines.

The attack on Russia's western Kursk region, which began on Tuesday, seems to be the country's most significant offense on its enemy's soil since the beginning of the war in early 2022.

Ukraine has not formally recognized it's behind the attack, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Moscow needs to "feel" the consequences of its invasion. "Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done," he said in his nightly message to the nation.

Elsewhere, Ukraine did acknowledge carrying out a strike on a Russian military base in the Lipetsk region, about 175 miles from the border. Local Russian Governor Igor Artamonov reported a "massive" drone attack overnight.

Ukraine's General Staff said on Telegram it hit "warehouses containing guided aerial bombs and a number of other facilities" and that a "massive fire broke out" with "multiple detonations."