US President Donald Trump said that he will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Budapest, the British newspaper "Financial Times" wrote in the headline, BTA reported in the press review.
The US president announced the upcoming meeting in Budapest in a post on social networks after a long telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart. He later said that the meeting in Hungary would take place "within two weeks".
Yesterday's conversation, which according to the Kremlin was at Putin's suggestion, took place before a meeting planned for today at the White House between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a time when Kiev is seeking additional military support from the US against Russian attacks.
Trump said after The call said senior US and Russian officials would meet next week to set the stage for a meeting between him and Putin. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the national security adviser, will lead the US delegation, the British publication notes.
Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance joined Putin on the call yesterday, White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said.
"I think we made a lot of progress on the phone today", Trump wrote on his social media "Truth Social" after his call with Putin.
"President Putin and I will meet at the agreed-upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can end this disgraceful war between Russia and Ukraine", Trump added.
Trump added in the post that he and Putin had spent "a lot of time talking about trade between Russia and "The US, when the war in Ukraine is over."
Hungary has long made proposals for a peace summit in Budapest. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban maintains cordial relations with Putin and Trump, often to the disappointment of his European allies who want him to stick more closely to the common policy of arming and assisting Ukraine, the "Financial Times" says.
"The planned meeting between the US and Russian presidents is great news for peace-loving people around the world," Orban wrote in a post on social media after Trump announced his plans for another summit.
The Kremlin said the idea for a meeting in Budapest was Putin's.
Yesterday's phone call was the first direct contact between Trump and Putin since they met for talks in Anchorage, Alaska, in August. Since then, the US president has increasingly more frustrated by the Russian leader's refusal to end the war.
This intransigence has prompted the US president to seek new ways to force Putin to the negotiating table, including by offering to sell Ukraine Tomahawk missiles - long-range weapons that can reach Moscow, the British publication notes.
The Kremlin said Putin told Trump that Russia "fully controls the strategic initiative along the entire front line in Ukraine."
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, said the Russian leader noted that the Tomahawk missiles would not change the situation on the battlefield, but would harm US relations with Russia and their attempts to end the war.
Putin also praised Trump for his mediation in achieving a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza earlier this week and praised his wife Melania Trump for her efforts to reunite displaced Ukrainian children with their families.
Ushakov said the two leaders discussed the "mutual sympathy between the Russian and American people" and noted that the frosty relations between the two countries were a "paradox."
Experts say the Tomahawk missiles are unlikely to change the course of the war because the United States cannot afford to provide many of them and the necessary ground-based launchers are insufficient.
However, if Trump allows NATO allies to purchase them for Kiev, it would send a strong signal to Moscow about the growing U.S. support for Ukraine.
"The threat of the Tomahawks has prompted Putin to hurry," a senior Ukrainian official said in response to news of Trump's plans to meet with the Russian president.
When Zelensky arrived in Washington yesterday afternoon, he said that Putin was "deaf to everything the world is saying, so the only language he still understands is the language of pressure".
Trump and Zelensky spoke twice over the weekend, discussing the "Tomahawk" missiles as well as strategies for ending the war.
Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko were in Washington this week for meetings with American officials. "This week is Ukraine week," said Kiev's ambassador to Washington, Olga Stefanyshyna.
Today's meeting will be Zelensky's third visit to the White House since Trump returned to office, and the second since a February meeting in the Oval Office that marked the lowest point in U.S.-Ukraine relations.
In recent months, however, Trump has shown increasing sympathy for Kiev's plight, criticizing Putin for his continued air strikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, the Financial Times reported.
The two leaders are expected to discuss further sanctions against Moscow, long-range strikes on Russia and ways to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses and energy sector, Stefanyshyna said.
Trump said he planned to meet with Putin in Budapest as Zelensky prepares to raise the issue of missiles in The White House, headlines another British publication - the "Guardian".
Zelensky will visit the White House today for a crucial meeting with Donald Trump, hours after the US president said he agreed to hold another summit with Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a "very productive" phone conversation.
The delivery of US "Tomahawk" cruise missiles to Ukraine is expected to be a major topic on the agenda during the Ukrainian president's visit. Trump has repeatedly hinted in recent weeks that he could deliver Tomahawk missiles, which would give Kiev the longest-range weapon yet, capable of hitting Moscow with precision and destructive munitions.
However, Trump's conciliatory tone after his call with Putin has cast doubt on the likelihood of immediate aid for Ukraine and renewed European fears of a US capitulation to Moscow.
Trump said Putin "didn't like" the idea when he raised the issue of providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, which have a range of up to 2,415 km, during their conversation, but then expressed doubt that Zelensky would actually receive the American weapons, noting that the US could not "run out" of them. their own stockpiles.
"We need them too, so I don't know what we can do about it," Trump said.
Ahead of Zelensky's visit, Trump said he planned to meet Putin in the Hungarian capital at a date yet to be set in a bid to end the war. They previously met in Alaska in August, but that failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough, the Guardian recalls.
Trump has in the past set deadlines for Moscow and promised to impose tough sanctions on the Russian economy, but has since backed down. He has often softened his stance after talks or meetings with Putin, the British publication notes.
The deliveries of "Tomahawk" missiles, the idea of which has already angered the Kremlin, would have symbolic significance, but their stockpiles are available in relatively small quantities, estimated by some experts at 20 to 50 missiles.
Some experts in Moscow said that the Kremlin viewed Trump's statement about the "Tomahawk" missiles as nothing more than a negotiating tactic to put pressure on Putin - a move they said was unlikely to unsettle the Russian president.
"Russia sees it as a bluff on Trump's part [...] the threat is not credible, as there is no practical way to carry it out in significant numbers. "Russia will ignore it," said Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat.
However, in recent days the Kremlin has issued its strongest warnings to Trump since he returned to office - a marked change in tone from Moscow, where many had expected Washington to help broker a deal on Ukraine that was favorable to Russia, according to the Guardian.
Donald Trump said he would meet Vladimir Putin in Budapest and assured that "a lot of progress has been made" during their phone call, the French newspaper "Figaro" headlined.
The American president plans to meet with his Russian counterpart "in the next two weeks", Trump himself said yesterday, on the eve of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the White House.
"The president believes that it is still possible for Putin and Zelensky to get together at the same table", White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt told reporters. "He will try to make progress in favor of peace and believes that progress was made during the phone call. Putin committed (during the call) to meet with Donald Trump". The Kremlin's envoy for international economic affairs, Kirill Dmitriev, also said that the conversation between the two leaders was "positive and productive".
The phone call took place on the eve of a visit to the White House by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived in Washington to request "Tomahawk" missiles from his counterpart. Donald Trump had previously indicated that he intended to consult with the Russian president before making a decision on this issue, notes "Figaro".
These American missiles would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory, and Moscow has already warned that the delivery of these weapons to Kiev would constitute "escalation" in its eyes. At a time when Russia is stepping up its attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine, the "Tomahawk" missiles are expected to be "the leading topic" of Zelensky's meeting with Donald Trump today, a senior Ukrainian official said yesterday.