President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, has said that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the war in Ukraine after the two men had a lengthy phone call that Trump described as “very productive.”
“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. President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The call between the two world leaders lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours and was held at the request of Russia, according to a Kremlin aide. It appeared to quickly shift Trump’s tone toward Russia, which has bucked his efforts to end the war. Trump later told reporters during an Oval Office event that he would meet with Putin “within two weeks or so.”
He also noted in his social media post that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead a delegation of high-level advisors to meet with Russian officials next week, with a location to be determined, and then provided additional details to reporters later in the afternoon.
“Marco Rubio is going to be meeting with his counterpart, as you know, (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey) Lavrov, and they’ll be meeting pretty soon. They’re going to set up a time and a place, very shortly, maybe it’s already set up. They’ve already spoken,” Trump said.
Putin immediately supported Trump’s idea of a planned summit in Budapest to discuss ending the Ukraine war, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said, describing the call between the two leaders as “highly informative and extremely frank.”
After Putin summit, Trump changed his mind on supporting Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy targets, sources say
The plans come more than two months after Trump held his last in-person summit with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.
Budapest was a finalist for to host that meeting before officials ultimately landed on Alaska, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has maintained a close relationship with Putin and Trump.
“Preparations for the USA-Russia peace summit are underway,” Orban announced on Thursday afternoon following a call with Trump.
“Hungary is the island of PEACE!” he posted on X.
‘A very good and productive call’
Trump said in his post on social media that he believes “great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation” with Putin and noted a number of topics of discussion.
“President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East, something that, he said, has been dreamed of for centuries. 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,” the president wrote in his social media post. “We also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over.”
Putin also thanked first lady Melania Trump during the call for her advocacy for children, Trump said. “He was very appreciative, and said that this will continue,” he added.
The first lady announced last week that Russia had allowed eight Ukrainian children to reunite with their parents, following months of private discussions between Russian officials and the first lady’s office centered on children separated from their families during the war.
Pressed for more information after the conclusion of the call, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the administration would provide “more details as soon as we can.”
“I was just talking with the president and the secretary of state and the vice president, and it was a very good and productive call. It lasted more than two hours,” she said.
