Trump to hold talks with Putin in Budapest – DW – 10/17/2025

Following the Gaza ceasefire agreement, US President Donald Trump has openly considered supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine, and has changed his approach towards Russia’s Vladimir Putin from diplomacy to pressure.

US President Donald Trump has set a tough deadline for his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest.

“I will probably meet with him in the next two weeks,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump also addressed the Ukrainian request for US-made Tomahawk missiles, seeming cool on providing them after a phone call with Putin.

He warned that the United States could not “deplete” its stockpile of missiles, and said that when he addressed the issue with Putin, he “didn’t like the idea.”

The Ukrainian delegation in Washington did not know about the planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, sources told DW’s US correspondent Misha Komadovsky.

Trump announced the planned summit after a phone call with Putin on Thursday.

He said it was scheduled to be held in Budapest, Hungary, but did not reveal the location.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday that he plans to build on the momentum currently building from a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

“We hope that the momentum from successfully curbing terror and war in the Middle East will help end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X. Putin is certainly no braver than Hamas or any other terrorist.

The Ukrainian President stressed that “there should be no alternative but peace and reliably guaranteed security.”

Zelensky is reportedly scheduled to discuss Kiev’s request for US-made Tomahawk missiles in his meeting with Trump.

On Thursday, after a phone call between Trump and Putin, the Kremlin said the Russian leader had warned against supplying missiles to Ukraine.

“We can already see that Moscow is rushing to restart negotiations as soon as it hears about the Tomahawks,” Zelensky said in reference to the Trump-Putin summit previously announced by the US president.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives in Washington DC on Thursday as he prepares for an Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday.

In a post on X, Zelensky said he was meeting with representatives of defense companies to discuss “additional supplies of air defense systems.” The Ukrainian president also said he planned to meet with representatives of American energy companies.

“Now, as Russia is betting on terror and carrying out daily attacks against our energy sector, we are working to ensure Ukraine’s resilience,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian President posted a video in which he is seen arriving at the airport.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump after Trump announced he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital Budapest.

“Preparations for a USA-Russia peace summit are underway,” Orban said in a post on Twitter. “Hungary is an island of peace!”

The date of the summit has not been revealed yet.

Orban has long been Putin’s biggest ally in Europe, a rare position among the otherwise united bloc.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned US President Donald Trump against accepting Ukraine’s request for Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Thursday that Putin told the US president that giving Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would harm US-Russian relations and the peace process.

Ushakov said that this phone call took place on Russia’s initiative.

“It was a very substantive conversation and at the same time, it was very candid and relatable,” he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Top diplomats Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov will first speak by phone in the coming days, a Kremlin aide on the Trump-Putin summit said, adding that work to pave the way for the summit would begin “immediately.”

Questions over Kiev’s request for US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles are being closely watched as Moscow steps up attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter.

A senior Ukrainian official told the French AFP news agency that at Zelensky’s Friday meeting with Trump “the main topic of discussion is Tomahawks.”

Last weekend, Trump warned that he would raise the issue first with Vladimir Putin, though he made no reference to it in his recap of Thursday’s phone call. Putin warned that the US supply of missiles to Ukraine would be “an increase to a completely new level”.

“I can talk to him, I can say, ‘Look, if this war isn’t going to be resolved, I’m going to send them Tomahawks.’ I can say that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to the Middle East last week.

The missiles have a range of about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), which would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia. “Tomahawk is [an] “Incredible weapons, very offensive weapons, and frankly, Russia doesn’t need it,” Trump said.

US President Trump said he would discuss his phone call with Putin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is due in the Oval Office on Friday.

“President Zelensky and I will meet tomorrow in the Oval Office, where we will discuss our conversation with President Putin and much more,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I believe today’s telephone conversation resulted in considerable progress.”

Zelensky is expected to seek approval for the purchase of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles during his visit.

Russia has warned the US administration against supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine.

US President Trump also said that US and Russian high-level advisers will meet next week, summarizing the phone call with Putin in his Truth social post.

Trump said the initial meetings would be led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adding that the location had not yet been determined.

“I truly believe that success in the Middle East will help our negotiations with Russia/Ukraine to end the war,” Trump wrote in reference to the US-brokered ceasefire framework to end the war in Gaza.

us President donald trump Said on Thursday that he was ready to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, without disclosing any specific information regarding the date of that meeting.

“I just finished my telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, and it was a very productive conversation,” Trump said on his Truth social platform, hours after announcing the start of the phone call.

“President Putin and I will meet at the agreed location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can end this “humiliating” war between Russia and Ukraine,” he wrote.

US President Trump completed talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and announced that the two leaders are scheduled to meet at an undisclosed date in Budapest.

Trump can also make a big announcement this evening. It is unclear whether this will include his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

This meeting with Putin comes ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington scheduled for Friday.

This blog brings you the latest information about the war in Ukraine and the Trump administration’s efforts to end it.