Donald Trump is poised to host Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for talks at the White House – the day after the US President had what he called a “productive” phone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
In recent days, Mr Trump had shown openness to selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, even as Putin warned against it – although indications are that he is not willing to grant Mr Zelensky his wish, at least for the moment.
Posting on Truth Social on Thursday, Mr Trump said: “At the conclusion of the call, 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. A meeting location is to be determined.
“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.”