US President Donald Trump has announced that he will meet Russian Vladimir Putin in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, without specifying a date. The head of the White House spoke with the Russian leader last Thursday (16) and said that “great progress has been made”. The announcement comes on the eve of the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, at the White House, this Friday (17). He expects Washington to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces, despite Moscow’s objections.
US President Donald Trump has announced that he will meet Russian Vladimir Putin in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, without specifying a date. The head of the White House spoke with the Russian leader last Thursday (16) and said that “great progress has been made”. The announcement comes on the eve of the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, at the White House, this Friday (17). He expects Washington to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces, despite Moscow’s objections.
The missiles would allow Ukraine to strike targets on Russian territory. Moscow has already warned that sending these weapons to Kiev would be seen as an “escalation” and would affect relations between Washington and Moscow.
As Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure intensify, Tomahawks will be the “main topic” of the meeting between Zelensky and Trump on Friday, in addition to Patriot air defense systems, given fears of a winter without light or heating in Ukraine due to Moscow’s attacks.
Trump has not yet clarified his position on the issue. “Ukraine wants to attack, I will make a decision on this,” he said on Wednesday (15). On Sunday, the head of the White House said that Ukraine’s use of Tomahawks would be “a new aggressive step.”
The meeting between Trump and Zelensky could reveal more about the current position of the American president, who recently surprised by saying that Ukraine can win the war, praising its resistance after the Russian invasion.
Some analysts, however, interpret this praise as a sign of possible disengagement and believe that Trump could stop interfering in the conflict. The Republican leader, who has always prided himself on having a good relationship with Putin, recently changed his tone, saying he was “very disappointed” by the Russian president. “Putin simply does not want to end this war,” Trump said Tuesday.
Meeting with Putin
“We have decided that a meeting of our top advisors will take place next week. The first meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for the United States,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social network, after speaking on the phone with Putin this Thursday. “Next, President Putin and I will meet at an agreed location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can put an end to this ‘inglorious’ war between Russia and Ukraine,” he added.
The Kremlin reacted after Trump’s statement and said the conversation was “frank and full of trust.” The last meeting between Trump and Putin took place on August 15, at a military base in Alaska. The meeting did not bring concrete results to resolve the conflict that began in February 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Over the past ten days, attacks against Ukraine have intensified. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 320 drones and 37 missiles during the night between Wednesday and Thursday. Of these, 283 drones and five missiles were shot down.
With agencies
Source: Terra
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