US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the war in Ukraine after the two men had a lengthy phone call that Trump described as “very productive.”
“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,” the president said on Truth Social.
The call between the two world leaders lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours and was held at the request of Russia, according to a Kremlin aide. It appeared to quickly shift Trump’s tone toward Russia, which has bucked his efforts to end the war. Trump later told reporters during an Oval Office event that he would meet with Putin “within two weeks or so.”
He also noted in his social media post 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, and then provided additional details to reporters later in the afternoon.
“Marco Rubio is going to be meeting with his counterpart, as you know, (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey) Lavrov, and they’ll be meeting pretty soon. They’re going to set up a time and a place, very shortly, maybe it’s already set up. They’ve already spoken,” Trump said.
Continue reading the complete article on the original source
