Andrey Melnichenko, one of the richest men in Russia, says if escalation "continues under [President Donald] Trump, and the Russian leadership gets the impression that this is a problem that has no solution, it will lead to a world war."
Melnichenko made the comments during an interview with Danish newspaper Frihedsbrevet at the end of November 2024, reports Newsweek.
Trump on Friday said his administration has already had "very serious" discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon take "significant" action toward ending the grinding conflict.
"We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that'll be significant," Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. "We want to end that war. That war would have not started if I was president."
Trump did not say who from his administration has been in contact with the Russians but insisted the two sides were "already talking."
Asked if he has already spoken directly with Putin, Trump was coy: "I don't want to say that."
Trump has said repeatedly he wouldn't have allowed the conflict to start if he had been in office, even though he was president as fighting grew in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv's forces and separatists backed by Moscow, ahead of Putin sending in tens of thousands of troops in 2022.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.