U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday on social media that he plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, though he did not specify a date for the meeting.
Trump revealed the plan in a post on Truth Social following what he described as a “very productive” phone conversation with Putin.
“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,” Trump wrote. “President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin and much more. I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
Trump also said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would head a delegation of senior U.S. officials to meet with Russian representatives next week, with the meeting location still to be determined.
“At the conclusion of the call, we agreed that there will be a meeting of our high-level advisors next week,” Trump wrote. “The United States’ initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated. A meeting location is to be determined.”
The announcement follows the leaders’ last in-person summit more than two months ago in Anchorage, Alaska. Budapest had been among the finalists for that earlier meeting before officials ultimately chose Alaska, according to multiple sources. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has maintained close ties with both Putin and Trump.
After the call, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that more information would be shared soon.
“This call literally just happened, so we will provide you with more details as soon as we can,” Leavitt said, adding that the conversation lasted “more than two hours.”
“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,” she said.
Trump has recently suggested that the U.S. could supply Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles unless Russia significantly changes its approach to negotiations. However, the president’s statement following the call did not mention the topic of Tomahawks.
