By Danny Kemp, AFP; Samantha Waldenberg, CNN
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / Alexander Nemenov and Jeff Kowalsky
US President Donald Trump said on social media on Thursday (US time) that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the war in Ukraine, though he did not specify when that meeting may take place.
Trump announced the plans on Truth Social following a lengthy phone call with Putin, which he said "was a very productive one".
"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. 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," the president added.
Trump also noted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead a delegation of high-level advisors to meet with Russian officials next week, with a location "to be determined".
"At the conclusion of the call, 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," the president wrote.
The plans come more than two months after Trump held his last in-person summit with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.
US President Donald Trump, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin after delivering a joint press conference during a US-Russia summit on Ukraine in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. Photo: AFP / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds
Budapest was a finalist for to host that meeting before officials ultimately landed on Alaska, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has maintained a close relationship with Putin and Trump.
Pressed for more information after the conclusion of the call, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the administration would provide "more details as soon as we can."
"This call literally just happened, so we will provide you with more details as soon as we can," she told reporters.
Leavitt added that the call between the two leaders lasted "more than two hours".
"I was just talking with the president and the secretary of state and the vice president, and it was a very good and productive call. It lasted more than two hours," she told reporters.
The president has recently floated the possibility of giving Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles unless Russia dramatically changes its negotiating posture. The topic of Tomahawks was not included in the president's readout of his phone call with Russia's leader.
CNN has previously reported that Zelensky told a group of journalists in Kyiv that the main topics of his conversation with the president on Friday at the White House will include "air defence and our possibilities with long-range (missiles to put) pressure on Russia".
Kremlin says Rubio and Lavrov to speak in coming days to prepare Putin-Trump summit
Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak in the coming days to prepare a new summit between the two presidents, a Kremlin aide said on Thursday (Russian time).
The official, Yuri Ushakov, said the timing of the summit would depend on how the preparatory work progressed.
Ushakov made the remarks during a briefing for reporters on a phone call between Putin and Trump, their eighth this year, which he said had taken place at Moscow's initiative.
He said Trump had proposed Budapest as a summit venue and that Putin had immediately agreed.
Ushakov's readout made clear that Putin had reiterated to Trump his longstanding position on the state of the war in Ukraine, saying Russian troops had the strategic initiative along the whole front line.
He said the two had also discussed the possible supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, which Zelensky has requested.
"Vladimir Putin reiterated his thesis that Tomahawk missiles will not change the situation on the battlefield, but will cause significant damage to relations between our countries, not to mention the prospects for a peaceful resolution," Ushakov told reporters.
He said Trump told Putin he would take into account what the Russian leader had said on the call when he meets Zelensky.
Ushakov said Trump had spoken of enormous potential for economic cooperation between the United States and Russia once the war in Ukraine had ended.
-CNN /Reuters
