Trump holds phone call with Putin, agrees to meet him in Budapest

Trump announced this on his Truth Social account.

"We agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week. 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. 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.

U.S. president called his conversation with Putin “very productive.” He added that he would discuss it with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on October 17.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has already expressed readiness to host the meeting between Trump and Putin.

“The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world. We are ready!” Orbán wrote.

According to Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov, Russian and U.S. representatives will immediately begin preparing a summit in Budapest, the Russian state agency TASS reported.

He added that the Hungarian capital was proposed by Donald Trump as the venue, and Putin supported the idea. The Kremlin representative also said that Putin and Trump discussed possible U.S. deliveries of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

“Putin told Trump that Tomahawks would not change the situation on the battlefield but would harm Russia–U.S. relations and efforts toward a settlement in Ukraine,” Ushakov said.

What came before

Earlier, the U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the call in another post: 

"I am speaking to President Putin now. The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

The U.S. president and the Russian leader talked one day before Trump's meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It is expected that one of the main topics during the visit will be the possibility of supplying Ukraine with American Tomahawk cruise missiles. The meeting will take place amid a statement by Donald Trump, who warned last week that he might give Ukraine Tomahawks if Russia does not enter into serious peace negotiations.

• On October 15, ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his conviction that the U.S. is capable of bringing the end of the war with the Russian Federation closer.

• On the same day, Trump called on Putin to stop killing Ukrainians and Russians.