Trump hopes to get on well with Putin if he wins upcoming US presidential vote

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that he hopes to get on well with Russian President Vladimir Putin again if he wins the upcoming presidential election.

“I got along with Putin very well, and he respected me,” Trump said in an interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk broadcast on social media platform X, adding that he hoped that they would get on well again, AFP reports.

The politician also claimed that conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip would not have occurred if he were still president.

The US presidential election is slated for November 5.

Incumbent US President Joe Biden was supposed to represent the Democrats at the election but decided to drop out of the race after mounting calls from his party following his poor performance in a June debate with his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump.

On July 21, Biden announced his decision to end his re-election bid and endorse Kamala Harris to replace him. Two days earlier, delegates at the Republican National Convention nominated Trump and Ohio senator James David Vance as the GOP’s candidates for the offices of president and vice president.