Trump Announces Plans to meet Putin in Budapest to discuss Ukraine War
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would again meet Russian president Vladimir Putin for talks seeking to end the war in Ukraine.
The US president announced the upcoming meeting in Budapest in a post on social media after a lengthy phone call with his Russian counterpart, without specifying when it would take place.
the call came in advance of Friday’s planned meeting at the White House between Mr Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as Kyiv seeks additional US military support against Russian attacks.
senior US and Russian officials would meet next week to lay the groundwork for a further meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin, the US president said. the US delegation will be led by Mr Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio, who also serves as his national security adviser.
“I believe grate progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,” Mr Trump said on Truth Social.
“President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end.”
!Trump in the Oval Office. Photograph: John McDonnell/AP
Mr Trump said that he and Mr Putin spent “a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over”.
Thursday’s call marked the first time Mr Trump and Mr Putin have spoken directly since they met for talks in Anchorage, Alaska, in August. As that meeting, the US president has grown increasingly frustrated with Mr Putin’s refusal to end the war.
That intransigence has prompted the US president to look at new ways to push the Russian leader to the negotiating table, including by floating the sale of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine – a long-range weapon that could reach Moscow.
“I’m very disappointed because Vladimir and I had a very good relationship, probably still do,” Trump said on Tuesday. “I don’t know why he continues with this war. This war has been so bad for him.”
Experts say the Tomahawk missiles are unlikely to be a game-changer on