Trump to meet Putin in Budapest to discuss war in Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would hold a second meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin “within two weeks or so” aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump and Putin agreed to meet in Budapest during a two-hour phone call on Thursday. Later, Trump expressed optimism that the summit could result in a ceasefire breakthrough even though an August meeting in Alaska failed to yield one.
“I think Alaska actually set a stage,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I think we’ll be successful, save a lot of lives.”
Trump has long had a habit of setting two-week deadlines for major announcements, which have oftentimes gone unmet. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed that Putin and Trump discussed holding a summit meeting in Budapest. He told reporters in an audio message that the conversation was substantive and frank, and that Trump proposed holding the meeting in the Hungarian capital.
“We are ready!” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted on X in response, later saying he spoke to Trump by phone to prepare for the gathering.
The U.S. and Russia will hold high-level staff talks next week before the leaders summit, with Washington’s delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. A location has not yet been decided, Trump said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Rubio plan to hold a call in the coming days, Ushakov said. The leaders discussed what U.S.-Russia trade would be possible if the war ends, according to Trump.
The developments signal that Trump is willing to give diplomacy another chance before authorizing more aggressive steps against Moscow, even though his efforts thus far haven’t succeeded.
The conversation took place a day before Trump’s White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has pressed the U.S. president to sell his country long-range Tomahawk missiles that can strike deeper into Russian territory.
Zelenskyy has said that such attacks would help force Putin into negotiations to end his invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Trump, too, had recently indicated eagerness to ramp up pressure on the Russian leader, teasing the prospect of allowing Ukraine access to Tomahawks.
Trump’s tone on Thursday was different. He seemed to indicate that he wasn’t inclined to share them with Kyiv after discussing the topic with Putin.
“We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we can’t deplete for our country,” Trump said.
Zelenskyy suggested that the threat of Tomahawks inspired Putin to come to the table.
“We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” Zelenskyy posted on social media.
Trump said he would share details of his conversation with Putin with Zelenskyy. Trump said he solicited Putin’s thoughts on providing thousands of U.S. missiles to Ukraine, and that the Russian leader “didn’t like the idea.”
“You think he’s gonna say, I’d love to have Tomahawk sent my way? I don’t think so,” Trump said.
A massive overnight aerial strike on Ukraine ahead of the Trump-Putin call “exposes Moscow’s real attitude toward peace,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Olga Stefanishyna, said in a statement, calling it “a direct blow to ongoing peace efforts led by President Trump.”
Trump is turning his attention to Putin’s military campaign on the heels of securing a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Ending wars in Gaza and Ukraine was a core 2024 campaign promise of Trump’s, and he has vented frustration with Putin over his refusal to halt the fighting or meet Zelenskyy face-to-face for peace talks.
Emboldened by his dealmaking in the Middle East, Trump has expressed renewed confidence he can achieve a similar result in Ukraine. The president’s critics have accused him of repeatedly falling prey to insincere entreaties by Putin, who has shown little interest in bringing his military campaign to a close.
“I actually believe that the Success in the Middle East will help in our negotiation in attaining an end to the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump posted on social media.
Tomahawks are among the most advanced weapons in the American arsenal, and would allow Kyiv’s forces to expand the range of Russian targets and increase the pain felt by Moscow. “I might say, ‘Look, if the war’s not going to get settled, I may send them Tomahawks,’” Trump recently said.
Trump famously boasted during last year’s campaign he could end Russia’s invasion on his first day back in the White House. Despite multiple conversations with Putin — including the Alaska summit — that goal has proved elusive.
Putin has shown no signs he is willing to compromise, instead continuing to launch attacks on Ukraine. His forces have targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure in recent weeks to devastating effect with cold winter weather approaching, a bid to demoralize the civilian population. More than half of Ukraine’s domestic gas production was wiped out after a string attacks in October.
In the meeting with Trump on Friday, their fourth face-to-face conversation this year, Zelenskyy is expected to renew pleas for air defense, long-range weapons, and assistance in sourcing new energy supplies. He is also expected to offer a drone manufacturing partnership and use of the country’s oil pipeline distribution network, efforts to keep the U.S. leader on Ukraine’s side.
At the same time, Zelenskyy is poised to reiterate appeals to Trump to ratchet up sanctions on Russia, a move the U.S. leader has been loathe to take.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the leaders’ call that he is ready to hold a vote on legislation imposing sanctions on countries that trade with Russia “soon,” but declined to specify a timeline, only saying he would do so in the “next 30 days.”
Trump said he planned to brief Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson about his call, and indicated he might not want lawmakers to push forward on the legislation, saying “it may not be perfect timing.”
Trump has focused on unilateral measures to prod Moscow, urging U.S. allies to cut purchases of Russian oil that fund its war machine. The president said India agreed to take such a step, but the country’s foreign ministry said they were not aware of a discussion in which Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the pledge.
Trump and Zelenskyy clashed publicly during an Oval Office meeting in February but ties between the two leaders have improved as the U.S. president has expressed more exasperation with Putin.
Zelenskyy plans to meet with members of Congress and military officials in Washington. The Ukrainian leader has said that he will also plan to meet energy executives at Trump’s urging.
