Ukrainian 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”.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X that 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.
BBC/Jide Johnson