President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks after first, he meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in D.C. on Friday.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said that “a meeting of our High Level Advisors” led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet next week, though the destination has not yet been confirmed.
“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,” he said. “President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more. I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
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While Trump said the pair had a lengthy conversation on U.S.-Russia trade, he did not include any mention of the U.S. arming Ukraine with top-level defenses, like Tomahawk missiles – which is a major reason Zelenskyy is coming to D.C. and the issue that allegedly prompted Trump’s call with Putin to begin with.
Earlier this week, Trump said he would need to speak with Putin to see if he wants “to have the Tomahawks going in their direction.”
Acquiring Tomahawk missiles is a top priority for Zelenskyy, as the sophisticated weaponry would be able to reach far beyond Moscow and could change Ukraine’s ability to hit not only more of Russia’s military complex but its oil industry, which largely funds its war chest.
The announcement of the Trump-Putin meeting comes just hours after Russian missile and drone strikes pounded Ukrainian cities and energy sites in the early hours of Thursday morning.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said more than 300 drones and 37 missiles, of which a “significant number of them ballistic” rained out across the country, hitting not only near the front lines but the western-central city of Vinnytsia.
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“There are wounded. Recovery efforts are underway everywhere. Emergency services are working,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russians are also reported to be using “double terror” tactics by targeting firefighters and energy workers with Shahed drones carrying cluster munitions.
“This autumn, the Russians use every single day to strike at our energy infrastructure,” he added. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has turned a deaf ear to everything the world says, so the only language that can still get through to him is the language of pressure – pressure through sanctions and pressure through long-range capabilities.”
Zelenskyy is traveling to D.C. on Thursday to meet with Trump, as well as defense and energy officials, to discuss how to ramp up the pressure on Putin in an effort to counter his war ambitions in Ukraine.
Trump told reporters this week that other defensive items, like more Patriot missiles, will be discussed in the Friday talks as well.
Trump has not confirmed whether he will give Ukraine the Tomahawk missiles, but he has increasingly voiced his frustration that Putin will not stop his war ambitions despite his efforts since re-entering the White House in January.
Fox News’ Nick Rojas contributed to this report.
