Trump plans meeting in Budapest after phone call with Putin – giving hope for peace

The day before the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, a telephone conversation took place between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said he had had a “productive” phone call with Putin lasting more than two hours and that the two would meet in Budapest. The goal of the talks was to end the war in Ukraine. Trump had suggested the Hungarian capital as the meeting place, and Putin had immediately agreed.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán described this on Platform X as “great news for peace-loving people around the world.” “We are ready!” Orbán added, referring to the organization of the meeting.

Trump said he would brief Zelensky on the results of the conversation before their meeting in the Oval Office scheduled for Friday. “I believe today's phone call has made great progress,” he said.

Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Thursday's phone call took place at Russia's initiative. Putin told his counterpart that the delivery of American Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine would damage the peace process and strain relations between the US and Russia.

Ushakov added that the planned new summit between the two presidents would be preceded by a phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the coming days. The timing of the summit would depend on how preparations progressed.

The two leaders met for the first time since Trump's re-election at a summit in Alaska on August 15.
Since then, however, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Ukraine is therefore seeking to obtain American Tomahawk long-range missiles, which it could use to strike Moscow and other major Russian cities.

Ahead of Thursday's phone call, Trump repeatedly expressed his growing frustration with Russia's ongoing attacks and said he could supply Tomahawks to Ukraine if Putin was not willing to negotiate.

Putin is demanding that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the areas it currently controls in Luhansk and Donetsk and hand them over to Russia. Moscow is also insisting on the demilitarization of Ukraine, a significant reduction in the size of its future army, and guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO. Ukraine categorically rejects these demands.

(reuters, sie)