Trump To Meet Putin In Budapest To Discuss War In Ukraine

US President Donald Trump said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary at a yet-to-be-determined date to try and end the war in Ukraine.

Trump and Putin agreed to the meeting during a two-hour phone call on Thursday. The US and Russia will hold high-level staff talks next week, followed by a leaders summit in Budapest “to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end,” Trump posted on social media.

“I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,” Trump added. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent the US at the initial round of talks, and a location has not yet been decided, Trump said. The leaders discussed US-Russia trade that was possible if the war ends, according to Trump.

The conversation took place a day before Trump’s White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has pressed the US president to sell his country long-range Tomahawk missiles that can strike deeper into Russian territory.

Zelenskiy has said that such attacks would help force Putin into negotiations to end his invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Trump, too, has recently indicated eagerness to ramp up pressure on the Russian leader, teasing the prospect of allowing Ukraine access to Tomahawks.

Trump said he would share details of his conversation with Putin with Zelenskiy.

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 Zelenskiy 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 has indicated openness to taking more aggressive actions to gain leverage on Putin, which he has previously been reluctant to do.

Earlier: Zelenskiy Readies List of Promises to Win Over Trump on Weapons

“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 Thursday.

Tomahawks are among the most advanced weapons in the American arsenal, and would allow Kyiv’s forces to expand the range of Russian targets. They are able to hit 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 has said. 

Putin has warned that supplying Tomahawks to Kyiv “would signal the advent of a totally new stage” in the war and would damage Russia’s relations with the US.

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 a summit in Alaska in August — that goal has proved elusive.

“The powerful impetus generated by Anchorage in favor of agreements has been largely exhausted,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last week.

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, Zelenskiy 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 US leader on Ukraine’s side.

At the same time, Zelenskiy is also said to reiterate appeals to Trump to ratchet up sanctions on Russia, a move the US leader has been loathe to take. 

US Senate Majority Leader John Thune is ready to hold a vote on legislation that would impose sanction on countries that trade with Russia, an aide said Thursday, a signal the long-stalled measure could move toward becoming law.

Trump has focused on unilateral measures, urging US 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 call in which Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the pledge.

Trump and Zelenskiy clashed publicly during an Oval Office meeting in February but ties between the two leaders have improved as the US president has expressed more exasperation with Putin. 

Zelenskiy 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.