'Time to end it': Trump says Ukraine peace efforts 'under way'

US President Donald Trump has said he wanted to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin soon to secure an end to the almost three-year-old war with Ukraine, lamenting what he called the huge loss of life.

"I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended," Trump, who returned to the White House on Monday, told the World Economic Forum in Davos by video link on Thursday.

In the run-up to his November 5 election victory, Trump declared dozens of times that he would have a deal in place between Ukraine and Russia on his first day in office, if not before. His advisers now concede the war will take months to resolve.

"And that's not from the standpoint of economy or anything else. It's from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted ... It's a carnage. And we really have to stop that war," he added.

Trump also said US efforts to secure a peace settlement were now hopefully underway, but gave no details.

"It's so important to get that done. That is an absolute killing field ... it's time to end it," he said.

Immediate interest rate cuts

Trump also vowed to push for immediate interest rate cuts, saying: "With oil prices going down, I'll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world."

He highlighted a forthcoming wave of investment from Saudi Arabia into the US economy.

"It's also reported today in the papers that Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America, but I'll be asking the crown prince, who's a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion," he said.

Trump also addressed global oil prices, signalling his intent to engage with Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce costs.

"I'm also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil," he said, linking high oil prices to the prolonged conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

"If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue," Trump asserted.

Additionally, he expressed his wish to see progress on nuclear disarmament.

He commented, "We would like to see denuclearisation,", referencing his past negotiations with world leaders. He claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to discussions on significantly reducing nuclear stockpiles.

"Putin liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear," Trump added.