Flashback: Trump and Putin made no tangible progress toward peace during a previous summit in Alaska in August.
While Trump tried to arrange a follow-up summit between Putin and Zelensky, Putin has declined to hold one.
“President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary,” he said.
The other side: Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters that it was Trump who proposed holding the summit in Budapest, and stressed Putin agreed immediately.
Putin raised the issue of possible supply of Tomahawks to Ukraine in his call with Trump on Thursday, Ushakov told reporters.
After speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone Thursday, President Trump declared that he and the Russian leader had decided to meet in Hungary in the upcoming weeks to talk about ways to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
A day before Trump hosts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, the two-hour call took place. Zelensky and Trump will talk about whether Ukraine could get long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Flashback: At a previous summit in August in Alaska, Trump and Putin failed to produce any real progress toward peace. Trump attempted to set up a second summit between Zelensky and Putin, but Putin has refused to do so.
At a press conference later Thursday, Putin stated that the meeting would take place within the next two weeks.
According to Trump, he had asked Putin in a “lighthearted” manner if he would mind sending “a couple thousand” Tomahawks, and Putin had reportedly asked him not to. “The U.S. needs Tomahawks,” he added. S. . and we are unable to deplete, so I’m not sure what we can do. “,”.
The planned summit was discussed by Trump and Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary.
“The peace summit between the United States and Russia is currently being prepared for. Orbán wrote, “Hungary is the island of peace!” on his X account.
The news was driven by Trump’s statement on Truth Social that he thinks his call with Putin resulted in “great progress.”.
He stated that their senior advisors would meet with the U.S. next week to discuss the Ukrainian situation. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in attendance.
Then, he stated, “President Putin and I will meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary.”.
Regarding the agreement to end the war in Gaza, Trump also wrote that Putin congratulated him.
On the other hand, Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov assured reporters that Trump had suggested hosting the summit in Budapest and that Putin had immediately accepted his suggestion.
To begin working on the summit, Ushakov said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would meet with Rubio in the next few days.
Ushakov told reporters that Putin brought up the potential supply of Tomahawks to Ukraine during his Thursday call with Trump.
He emphasized that Putin informed Trump that the Tomahawks would hurt the United States rather than alter the battlefield. S. -Russian ties and the opportunity to advance the peace process.
What to watch: Trump claimed last week that he had warned Zelensky that he might issue a fresh challenge to Putin: either Russia engages in meaningful peace negotiations or Ukraine receives Tomahawks.
Zelensky has maintained that the missiles could force Putin to the negotiating table and that they could reach Moscow. “Extreme concern” was voiced by the Kremlin regarding the Tomahawk proposal.
Ukraine is still uncertain if Trump will agree to supply Tomahawks, a Ukrainian official told Axios on Wednesday.
Ukraine also wants to expedite other U.S. A. manufactured weapons, especially Patriot missile defense systems.
Trump’s announcement of an impending summit has been added to this story.
