Trump says he plans to meet Putin again as Ukraine war drags

President Trump said Thursday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, after what he described as a “very productive call” with the Russian leader.

The president announced plans for another summit in Budapest in a social media post following a two-hour call where the two leaders discussed the war, trade and the Middle East.

“At the conclusion of the call, we agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week,” Trump wrote, noting that the meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He said a location will 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,” he added.

Trump boasted that “great progress” was made on the call and that he will be discussing it at his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday at the White House.

Trump and Zelensky are expected to discuss the possibility of the U.S. providing Ukraine with long-range missiles.

Trump was widely criticized following his last meeting with Putin over the summer. That summit, in Alaska, did not result in any significant steps toward ending the war. Trump traveled to Alaska calling for a ceasefire before backing down.

Trump also said after the summit that his team would be scheduling a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, which also never took place. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump still believes a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is possible.

Asked whether conditions had changed to make a second meeting with Putin more successful, Leavitt said, “I think the President is always willing to take a chance at a diplomacy.”