WASHINGTON, Oct 17: US President Donald Trump said he made “great progress” during a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, announcing plans for a face-to-face meeting in Hungary, the BBC reported.
The White House described the call, their first since August, as “very productive”, while the Kremlin said it was “extremely frank and trustful”. Both sides agreed that teams from Washington and Moscow would meet next week to prepare for the leaders’ summit, according to the BBC.
Trump did not give a specific date for the Budapest meeting but said he expected to meet Putin “within two weeks”. The call came a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s scheduled visit to Washington, where he is seeking advanced US weapons, including Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia, the BBC noted.
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Writing on Truth Social, Trump said he and Putin discussed post-war trade between Russia and the United States. He added that high-level delegations, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the US side, would hold preliminary talks next week. Trump said he would brief Zelensky on his conversation with Putin during their Friday meeting, saying he believed “great progress” had been achieved, the BBC said.
When asked about supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine after the call, Trump said the US “can’t deplete” its missile stockpile, suggesting uncertainty about future arms transfers. Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Olga Stefanishyna, accused Moscow of hypocrisy, pointing to fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine just hours before the Trump-Putin call, the BBC reported. She said the attacks revealed “Russia’s real attitude toward peace” and called for tougher sanctions and more long-range weapons.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomed the announcement of the Budapest summit, describing it as “great news for peace-loving people.” He urged Europe to adopt “humility and dialogue” instead of “arrogance and war,” the BBC said.
Trump’s renewed outreach to Putin marks a shift from his harder tone following their failed August summit in Alaska. That meeting, which Trump had hoped would launch comprehensive peace talks, ended without progress. The two leaders last spoke days later when Trump phoned Putin during a meeting with Zelensky and European officials, the BBC reported.
During his election campaign, Trump claimed he could end the Ukraine war “within days” of returning to office, but he has since acknowledged the challenge is greater than expected. Relations with Kyiv have improved after a period of tension earlier this year, when Trump and Vice-President JD Vance publicly clashed with Zelensky in the Oval Office, the BBC said.
Zelensky’s visit to Washington on Friday, his third since January, is expected to focus on US missile support. He has repeatedly asked for Tomahawk systems, which have a range of about 2,500 km. Trump said earlier this week he was still considering the request.
The BBC also reported that India disputed Trump’s recent claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop buying Russian oil, saying no such conversation had taken place.
