President Trump said Thursday that he thinks the Russia-Ukraine war started because then-President Biden said Ukraine could join NATO, a prospect opposed by Moscow.

“I believe that’s the reason the war started, because Biden went out and said that they could join NATO. And he shouldn’t have said that,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday. “As soon as he said that, I said, ‘You know what? You’re going to have a war now.’”

“And I was right about that,” he said. “This is a war that would have never happened if I were president.”

Mr. Trump said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the Ukraine-Russia war to end.

“I believe he wants peace,” he said, adding that Mr. Putin would tell him if he didn’t want peace with Ukraine.

“I trust him on this subject,” he said. “I think he’d like to see something happen.”

The discussion comes after Mr. Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mr. Putin on Wednesday. The president has been unwavering in trying to get the war to end, a promise he made on the campaign trail.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership was out of the question for Ukraine after the war ends. However, on Thursday he slightly walked back the statement, saying “everything is on the table.”

“I want to be clear about something as it pertains to NATO membership not being [a] realistic outcome for negotiations. That’s something that was stated as part of my remarks here, as part of the coordination with how we’re executing these ongoing negotiations,” Mr. Hegseth said at the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in Germany.

“All of that said, these negotiations are led by President Trump,” he said. “Everything is on the table.”

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.