US President Donald Trump reported a successful telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it “very productive”.
During the conversation, Putin congratulated Trump and stressed the importance of achieving peace in the Middle East, which he said has been a dream for centuries.
In Trump’s opinion, this progress could contribute to the resolution of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine:
“President Putin congratulated me and the United States on achieving peace in the Middle East, which he said has been a dream for centuries. I truly believe that success in the Middle East will help in our negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. President Putin thanked First Lady Melania for her involvement in working with children. He expressed great gratitude and said that this activity will be continued. We also spent a lot of time discussing trade between Russia and the United States after the end of the war with Ukraine.
The US President noted that he had agreed with Putin to meet in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, to discuss ways to end the “inglorious war between Russia and Ukraine”. The event is planned to be organized within the next two weeks.
“President Putin and I will meet at an agreed location, Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the possibility of ending this inglorious war between Russia and Ukraine”, Trump noted.
He specified that a meeting of high-level advisers would take place next week. The American delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the location of the talks will be determined at a later date.
“President Zelensky and I will meet tomorrow in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin and many other things. I think the phone call today made a lot of progress”, Trump explained.
According to him, the meeting with Putin will take place “probably within the next two weeks”. The American delegation will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and “the whole team”. Answering journalists’ questions about why the second meeting might yield different results than the previous one, Trump explained that the talks in Alaska on August 15 “actually set the stage.” He also promised to tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about his conversation with Putin during his meeting with him on Friday, October 17. “We have a problem. They don’t get along very well, these two, and sometimes it’s hard to have meetings, so we can do something where we’re separate, but separate, but equal,” the US president added. At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban commented on the announced meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, calling it “great news for peace-loving people around the world”:
“The planned meeting of the presidents of America and Russia is great news for the peace-loving peoples of the world. We are ready!
