President Trump to meet with President Putin in Budapest for Ukraine peace talks
After their phone conversation, President Donald Trump announced that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest to discuss peace negotiations with Ukraine.
WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to return to the White House on October 17, as President Donald Trump considers whether to equip Kiev with Tomahawk missiles capable of hitting targets deep inside Russian territory.
President Trump had expressed openness to providing long-range missiles to Ukraine earlier this week, but suddenly reversed course on October 16, expressing hesitation about President Zelensky’s request.
“We need Tomahawks for America,” President Trump said on October 16. “We have a lot of Tomahawks, and we need them. We can’t run them out for our country.”
President Trump’s remarks came hours after he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Trump said that during the phone call, President Putin made it clear that he did not want the United States to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
In response to a reporter’s question, President Trump said sarcastically, “What do you think I’ll say, ‘Sell me my tomahawk?'” “I actually said, ‘Would you be willing to give your opponent a few thousand dollars?’ That’s what I told him, and that’s exactly what I said. He didn’t like the idea. He really didn’t like the idea.”
President Trump said he made “significant progress” in a phone conversation with President Putin on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump said Putin had agreed to meet face-to-face in Budapest after further professional meetings between officials in Washington and Moscow.
President Trump said he expected the talks in Budapest to be held “within two weeks.”
President Zelenskiy has been asking the White House for months for the Tomahawk, which has a range of 1,500 miles and poses a threat to Russia’s war command and control. President Putin’s advisers also acknowledged this.
This will be Zelensky’s third visit to the White House during Trump’s second term. Mr. Zelensky’s visit in February ended in a controversial televised exchange between him and Mr. Trump about how to handle Putin and the war.
