U.S. President Donald Trump hailed "great progress" after speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he said they would be holding a meeting in Budapest, Hungary.
"We agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week. The United States' initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated," Trump wrote.
"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."
Before his social media post, Trump had held a telephone call with Putin, which he labelled "a very productive one."
He said the discussion also touched on trade relations between the United States and Russia after the end of the war in Ukraine.
Trump expressed confidence that the "Success in the Middle East," referring to the agreement on a ceasefire after two years of war in Gaza, would help in negotiations regarding Ukraine.
"President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East, something that, he said, has been dreamed of for centuries," Trump added.
Trump held a phone conversation with Putin, a day before Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s planned White House visit to seek additional support in the war with Russia. The meeting in the Hungarian capital would be "to see if we can bring this 'inglorious' War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end," Trump wrote on social media.
Putin told Trump that supplying U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine would harm the peace process and damage U.S.-Russia ties, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
Ushakov said a planned new summit between the two presidents will be preceded by a phone call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the coming days.
The Putin-Trump call took place at Russia's initiative, Ushakov said.
Zelenskyy will meet Trump to push for more military support as Kyiv and Moscow escalate their war with massive attacks on energy systems while NATO struggles to respond to a spate of Russian air incursions. Trump confirmed he was speaking with Putin in a social media post during the discussion. "The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Ukraine is seeking U.S. Tomahawk long-range missiles, which would put Moscow and other major Russian cities within range of missile fire from Ukraine.
Trump has said he could supply the weapons to Ukraine if Putin fails to come to the negotiating table.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump, a Republican who has vowed to end the war, has expressed increasing frustration with Putin over ongoing attacks.
In its latest barrage, Russia launched more than 300 drones and 37 missiles to target infrastructure across Ukraine in overnight attacks on Thursday, Zelenskyy said.
Russia has been hitting Ukraine's energy and power facilities for consecutive winters as the war drags into its fourth year, initially focusing on electricity, but this year increasingly targeting gas infrastructure.
