Trump says to meet Putin in Budapest after 'great' call

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet Russia's Vladimir Putin in Hungary after a "very productive" call on Thursday, and questioned Kyiv's push for Tomahawk missiles just a day before hosting Ukraine's leader at the White House.

In his latest abrupt pivot on Russia's 2022 invasion, Trump said he expected to meet Putin in Budapest within the next two weeks for what would be their second summit since the American's return to power.

The Kremlin welcomed the "extremely frank and trustful" call and said it was immediately preparing for the summit.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that the threat of Tomahawks had pushed Moscow to negotiate, even as he deals with yet another Trump shift on the war.

"I believe great progress was made with today's telephone conversation," Trump said on his Truth Social network, saying he and Putin would meet to "see if we can bring this 'inglorious' War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end."

The 79-year-old Republican later told reporters in the Oval Office that the call was "very productive" and that he expected to meet "within two weeks or so, pretty quick."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will swiftly meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to sort out summit details, Trump added.

AFP