Journalism of Courage
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Hungary, in an effort to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social after his telephonic conversation with Putin.
“A meeting location is to be determined. 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 said.
Before Trump and Putin meet, US officials led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio will sit down with Russian representatives next week. It’s unclear where that meeting will take place.
Earlier, Trump spoke with Putin ahead of his meeting on Friday at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been pressing Trump to sell Kyiv Tomahawk missiles that would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russian territory.
Zelenskyy has argued such strikes would help compel Putin to take Trump’s calls for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war more seriously.
Trump said during their phone call, Putin congratulated him and the US for achieving peace in the Middle East, something that, the Russian President said, “has been dreamed of for centuries.”
Trump also said that the success of Middle East peace efforts could help in attaining similar results in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“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 said.
Earlier this week in Jerusalem, in a speech to the Knesset, Trump predicted the truce in Gaza would lay the groundwork for the US to help Israel and many of its Middle East neighbors normalize relations. But Trump also made clear his top foreign policy priority now is ending the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.
“First we have to get Russia done,” Trump said, turning to his special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has also served as his administration’s chief interlocutor with Putin. “We gotta get that one done. If you don’t mind, Steve, let’s focus on Russia first. All right?”
The two leaders had met in August in Alaska, to find solutions to end the war in Ukraine, but despite the initial optimism, they failed to agree on any concrete steps.
Ending the wars in Ukraine and Gaza was central to Trump’s 2024 re-election pitch, in which he persistently pilloried President Joe Biden for his handling of the conflicts. Yet, like his predecessor, Trump also has been stymied by Putin as he’s unsuccessfully pressed the Russian leader to hold direct talks with Zelenskyy to end the war, which is nearing its fourth year.
The Kremlin said that Putin’s call with Trump was “frank and trusting.”
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the Russian leader congratulated Trump on the Gaza ceasefire, noting that “the US President’s peacekeeping activities have been highly praised in the Middle East, in America itself, and in most countries around the world.”
Ushakov said that preparations for Putin’s meeting with Trump in Budapest will start with a phone call between the top US and Russian diplomats.
