Donald Trump addresses a press conference in Florida, USA, August 2024. Photo: Getty Images/VNA

"I think we have to solve the Ukraine problem with Russia," the president-elect told French magazine Paris Match in an interview released on Wednesday when asked question about his top priority on the international stage. "Both those countries are losing numbers that nobody can believe. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are being killed," he said.

"And the Middle East is of course a big priority. But I think that the Middle East is a less difficult situation than Ukraine with Russia," Trump said.

He reiterated his call for Washington not to intervene in Syria, after the opposition overthrew President Bashar al-Assad.

The US president-elect flew to Paris for the Saturday reopening of Notre Dame cathedral following a devastating fire in 2019. He met with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his first international trip since his re-election in early November.