President Donald Trump announced late Thursday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to meet in Budapest, Hungary, for talks aimed at ending the protracted war in Ukraine, following a phone call that the US leader characterized as “very productive.”
The surprise announcement, shared via a post on Truth Social, injects fresh, if uncertain, momentum into diplomatic efforts to resolve the nearly four-year-old conflict. It comes just one day before President Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House for a high-stakes discussion on military aid, specifically Kyiv’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Setting the Stage for Negotiations
According to President Trump’s statements, the lengthy phone conversation with Putin yielded immediate plans for lower-level preparatory talks. He indicated that a delegation of senior advisors, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will convene next week to lay the groundwork for the eventual presidential summit in the Hungarian capital.
“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, adding, “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
The Kremlin’s account confirmed the call was “frank and trusting” and stated that preparations for the summit would “immediately” begin. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who maintains cordial ties with Moscow and has frequently clashed with Kyiv, publicly welcomed the news, posting “We are ready!”
Middle East Success as a Precedent
The President suggested his recent diplomatic success in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has created a favorable atmosphere for the Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
“President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East,” Trump shared. “I actually believe that the Success in the Middle East will help in our negotiation in attaining an end to the War with Russia/Ukraine.”
However, the path to a lasting settlement remains fraught. While buoyed by the Middle East breakthrough, Trump has struggled previously to compel Putin into a serious, lasting dialogue with Kyiv. Their last face-to-face meeting in Alaska did not produce a significant diplomatic breakthrough.
The Tomahawk Gambit
The timing of the Putin-Trump call—immediately preceding the White House meeting with President Zelenskyy—is particularly significant, as missile support is expected to dominate the talks with the Ukrainian leader.
Zelenskyy has been urgently pressing Washington to approve the sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles, a major escalation that would grant Kyiv the ability to strike deep into Russian territory. Ukrainian officials argue that this threat is the only leverage that will force Putin to genuinely negotiate an end to the invasion.
President Trump has publicly floated the idea of using the Tomahawks as a bargaining chip. “Do they want to have Tomahawks going in that direction? I don’t think so,” he said previously. Yet, the Kremlin’s readout of the call suggests Putin directly cautioned Trump against the move, warning that supplying the long-range weapons would “significantly damage” relations and undermine peace prospects. The Budapest meeting, therefore, appears positioned between Ukraine’s request for maximum military pressure and Russia’s demand for de-escalation.
The US President’s high-stakes personal diplomacy will now shift from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, with the world watching to see if his unique negotiating style can succeed in bringing two entrenched adversaries to a peace table in Budapest.