Trump says Ukraine deal 'coming soon' during Board of Peace ceremony

President Donald Trump joined world leaders for a signing ceremony in Switzerland on Jan. 22 for his "Board of Peace" and said it has the potential to be "one of the most consequential bodies," though it wasn't clear what specific function the board will have or under whose authority it might act.

Trump suggested during the presentation that a peace settlement connected to Russia's war in Ukraine was "coming very soon." Ukrainian officials did not immediately return a request for comment on Trump's assertion.

Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were holding talks in Davos.

The peace board was initially aimed at helping end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza as well as overseeing the reconstruction of the Palestine enclave.

However, a leaked charter does not appear to mention the territory and suggests it may have some overlap with the role traditionally played by the United Nations and its various specialized agencies.

"We can do pretty much whatever we want to do," Trump said onstage in Davos in the Swiss Alps, where he is attending the World Economic Forum.

Trump said the board has "tremendous potential" and would work in conjunction with the United Nations.

Russia's Putin on 'Board of Peace'?

The signing ceremony featured leaders from Azerbaijan, Argentina, Indonesia, Qatar and Kosovo. The only European leader on the board was Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Trump has said Russia's leader Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to appear on the board. Russia's government has not confirmed that.

Trump concluded the event by talking about Gaza.

"I'm a real estate person at heart, and it's all about location, and I said look at this location on the sea. Look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people."

The signing ceremony in Davos comes in the wake of Trump's announcement while at the mountain forum that he had negotiated "the framework of a future deal” about Greenland and the wider Arctic that rules out taking the territory by force.

Trump has repeatedly said the United States needs to annex Greenland for reasons of national security. He said that deal meant he was lifting the threat of tariffs against European allies opposed to his designs on the Danish territory. Greenlandic and Danish officials have they have seen few details about the deal floated by Trump.