NEW YORK, August 20. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has said that the planet is no longer heading to World War Three.

Speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, he noted that under the administration of the previous US President Joe Biden, the situation only worsened. "I think it was heading to World War Three, and you're not going to have that anymore. That's a nice part. You're not gonna have to worry about that," he said in an interview with American journalist Mark Levin.

"We'll see what happens in terms of getting it settled. But this was heading to World War Three. This is the worst thing that's happened in terms of war. These are the biggest numbers that we've had since World War Two," Trump added.

On August 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump met at a military base in Alaska. The conversation lasted about three hours, including a change of formats: one-on-one in the limo of the American leader on the way to the main meeting place and in a narrow three-on-three format. On the Russian side, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also took part in the meeting, while on the American side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. In a press statement following the talks, Putin said that the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict had become the main topic of the summit.

On Monday, Trump received Vladimir Zelensky and leaders of European countries. During the meeting in Washington, Trump made a phone call to Putin, with whom, the US president said, he discussed, among other things, the prospects for holding a meeting between the Russian leader and Zelensky, followed by trilateral negotiations. According to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, the leaders expressed support for continuing direct consultations between Moscow and Kiev, and the idea of elevating their level was also considered.