ReutersUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, as Trump weighs whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.
Their meeting comes a day after Trump said “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.
Trump said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was “very productive”, adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.
As Zelensky arrived in the US, his third visit since January, he said Moscow was “rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks”.
Zelensky has called on the US to provide Ukraine with the advanced missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).
Asked earlier this week if Trump was considering giving Ukraine Tomahawks, he said: “We’ll see… I may.”
But asked about the same prospect after his call with Putin, Trump said “we can’t deplete” the US stockpile of Tomahawks, adding “we need them too… so I don’t know what we can do about that”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform after his call with Putin concluded, Trump said he and the Russian president “spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over”.
He said “high level advisors” from both countries would meet at an unspecified location next week, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading the American delegation.
Trump also said he would update Zelensky on his talks with Putin on Friday, adding: “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
He later told reporters he expected to meet Putin in Hungary “within two weeks”.
Hours before the Trump-Putin call, Russia launched one of its largest attacks of the year on Ukraine, including 28 ballistic missiles, and 320 drones, according to Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna.
Stefanishyna said Russia launching overnight strikes on Ukraine before the call “exposes Moscow’s real attitude toward peace”.
In a statement to the BBC’s US partner CBS, she added: “These assaults show that Moscow’s strategy is one of terror and exhaustion. The only effective response is pressure – through tougher sanctions, reinforced air defense, and the supply of long-range capabilities.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X the planned Budapest meeting was “great news for the peace-loving people of the world”.
Earlier, he also said: “Peace requires patience, strength, and humility. Europe must shift its stance. Instead of arrogance and fanning the flames of endless war, we need negotiations with Russia. Only dialogue can bring peace to our continent.”
Trump has taken a much tougher line towards Putin over the Ukraine war since a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August failed to produce a decisive breakthrough in attempts to broker a peace deal.
The pair met on US soil on 15 August for a summit which the US president hoped would help convince the Russian president to enter comprehensive peace talks to end the Ukraine war. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
They spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.
Since then, neither the White House or Kremlin have publicly confirmed any communications between the two.
During his presidential election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days but has since admitted resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to power.
Trump had been seen as more sympathetic to Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden, and strained relations with Zelensky came to a head on 28 February when he and Vice-President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office on live television.
But public relations with Zelensky have vastly improved in recent months.
In September, Trump signalled a major shift in his view of the conflict, saying he believed Kyiv could “win all of Ukraine back in its original form”, a far cry from his public calls for Kyiv to cede territory occupied by Russia.
ReutersIn late July, Trump set Putin a deadline of less than a fortnight to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions, including measures against countries which still trade with Russia.
But he did not follow through the threat after Putin agreed to meet Trump in Alaska, which the US president hailed as a significant diplomatic success at the time, despite it not producing any tangible outcome.
Earlier on Thursday, India’s foreign ministry cast doubt on a claim made by Trump a day earlier saying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil.
An Indian government spokesman said he was “not aware of any conversation between the two leaders” taking place the previous day, after Trump said Modi had assured him purchases would stop “within a short period of time”.
The US has pushed for countries – in particular India, China and Nato members – to stop buying Russian energy in an effort to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin. Zelensky has also repeatedly echoed those calls.
