Trump Says Ending Ukraine War Could Be His Ticket to Heaven

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that his efforts to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could improve his chances of getting into heaven.

“I’m not doing very well when it comes to getting to heaven. But if I can make it there, ending this war will be one of the reasons,” Trump told Fox News.

At a White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the president was not joking.

“I think the president was being serious. I think the president wants to go to heaven, like everyone in this room,” she told reporters when asked about the spiritual motives behind Trump’s peace initiatives.

The 79-year-old Republican has raised the subject before. Ahead of his first presidential election in 2016, he said that winning and serving successfully as president was “probably the only way I’m going to get to heaven.”

Speaking about his parents, Trump once said he was certain his mother was “in heaven,” but admitted he was “not 100 percent sure” about his father.

Trump has also claimed credit for preventing or halting six wars worldwide, citing conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo.