WASHINGTON DC: United States President Donald Trump has announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to meet in Budapest within the next two weeks for talks focused on ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump made the announcement on social media on Thursday, saying the decision followed a “lengthy and productive” phone conversation between the two leaders.

Speaking later at a press conference, Trump said senior officials from both sides would meet next week to lay the groundwork for the summit.

The call marked the first direct conversation between Trump and Putin since their summit in Alaska in August.

“I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

The timing of the call is notable, coming just a day before Trump is scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, DC.

Zelenskyy is expected to renew his request for the United States to sell Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, potentially giving Kyiv the ability to strike deeper inside Russian territory.

Trump said he would brief Zelenskyy on his talks with Putin during their Oval Office meeting on Friday.

Responding to Trump’s announcement, Zelenskyy posted on X that only “the language of strength and justice” could bring Moscow to genuine negotiations.

“We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” he added.

The diplomatic maneuvering underscores growing pressure on all sides as Ukraine braces for intensified Russian offensives around Donetsk and seeks more robust Western support to defend its airspace.

Meanwhile, the European Union has been discussing a coordinated “drone wall” to protect its airspace from Russian violations, while questions remain over whether Trump will pressure India to curb its imports of Russian oil.

Trump’s latest outreach to Putin signals what could become one of the most consequential diplomatic engagements of his presidency, with the potential to reshape the course of the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine.