ReutersUS President Donald Trump says “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.
He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was “very productive”, adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.
Trump did not confirm a date for his meeting with Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin said work on the summit would begin “immediately” after the “extremely frank and trustful” call.
The talks came a day before Ukraine’s President Zelensky was to visit the White House, and with Trump weighing whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.
As he arrived in the US, Zelensky said Moscow was “rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform after the call concluded, Trump said he and Putin “spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over”.
He said “high level advisors” from both countries would meet at an unspecified location next week, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading the American delegation.
Trump also said he would update Zelensky on his talks with Putin on Friday, adding: “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
He later told reporters he expected to meet Putin “within two weeks”.
Asked about the prospect of giving the missiles to Ukraine after his call with Putin, Trump said “we can’t deplete” the US stockpile of Tomahawks, adding “we need them too… so I don’t know what we can do about that”.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna, said Russia launching overnight strikes on Ukraine “hours before” Putin’s call with Trump “exposes Moscow’s real attitude toward peace”.
In a statement to the BBC’s US partner CBS, she added: “These assaults show that Moscow’s strategy is one of terror and exhaustion. The only effective response is pressure – through tougher sanctions, reinforced air defense, and the supply of long-range capabilities.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X the planned Budapest meeting was “great news for the peace-loving people of the world”.
Earlier, he also said: “Peace requires patience, strength, and humility. Europe must shift its stance. Instead of arrogance and fanning the flames of endless war, we need negotiations with Russia. Only dialogue can bring peace to our continent.”
Trump has taken a much tougher line towards Putin over the Ukraine war since a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August failed to produce a decisive breakthrough in attempts to broker a peace deal.
The pair met on US soil on 15 August for a summit which the US president hoped would help convince the Russian president to enter comprehensive peace talks to end the Ukraine war. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
EPAThey spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.
Since then, neither the White House or Kremlin have public confirmed any communications between the two.
During his presidential election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days but has since admitted resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to power.
Trump had been seen as more sympathetic to Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden, and strained relations with Zelensky came to a head on 28 February when he and Vice-President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office on live television.
But public relations with Zelensky have vastly improved in recent months.
In September, Trump signalled a major shift in his view of the conflict, saying he believed Kyiv could “win all of Ukraine back in its original form”, a far cry from his public calls for Kyiv to cede territory occupied by Russia.
During Zelensky’s upcoming visit to Washington on Friday, his third since January, the subject of Tomahawk missiles is likely to be high on the agenda.
Zelensky has called on the US to provide Ukraine with the advanced missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).
Asked earlier this week if he was considering giving Ukraine the missiles, he said: “We’ll see… I may.”
In late July, Trump set Putin a deadline of less than a fortnight to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions, including measures against countries which still trade with Russia.
But he did not follow through the threat after Putin agreed to meet Trump in Alaska, which the US president hailed as a significant diplomatic success at the time, despite it not producing any tangible outcome.
Earlier on Thursday, India’s foreign ministry cast doubt on a claim made by Trump a day earlier saying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil.
An Indian government spokesman said he was “not aware of any conversation between the two leaders” taking place the previous day, after Trump said Modi had assured him purchases would stop “within a short period of time”.
The US has pushed for countries – in particular India, China and Nato members – to stop buying Russian energy in an effort to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin. Zelensky has also repeatedly echoed those calls.
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