President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine.
He made the announcement following an extended phone conversation with the Russian leader.
“Following our conversation, we agreed that our senior advisors will meet next week. The U.S. delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with additional participants to be announced later,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The venue for the meeting is still being determined.”
“President Putin and I will then meet at an agreed location — Budapest, Hungary — to see if we can bring an end to this ‘disgraceful’ war between Russia and Ukraine,” he added.
Trump said that during his conversation with Putin, they also discussed the prospects for U.S.-Russia trade relations after the end of the war in Ukraine.
“President Zelensky and I will meet tomorrow in the Oval Office to discuss my conversation with President Putin and much more,” Trump wrote. “I believe today’s phone call brought significant progress.”
In recent weeks, Trump has increasingly voiced frustration with Putin following their August meeting in Alaska, which produced no tangible results toward a peace settlement. The planned meeting between Putin and Zelensky has also yet to take place.
In recent days, Trump signaled that the United States may provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking military targets deep inside Russian territory. The Kremlin warned that such a move would further escalate tensions between Moscow and Washington.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to end the war in Ukraine before taking office, but later admitted that resolving the conflict has proven far more difficult than he anticipated.