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18-10-2025
WASHINGTON/ KYIV/ MOSCOW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, as Trump weighs whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.
Their meeting comes a day after Trump said “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.
Trump said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was “very productive”, adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.
As Zelensky arrived in the US, his third visit since January, he said Moscow was “rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks”.
Zelensky has called on the US to provide Ukraine with the advanced missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).
Asked earlier this week if Trump was considering giving Ukraine Tomahawks, he said; “we’ll see… I may” but when asked about the same prospect following his call with Putin, Trump said “we can’t deplete” the US stockpile of Tomahawks, adding “we need them too… so I don’t know what we can do about that”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform after his call with Putin concluded, Trump said he and the Russian president “spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over”.
He said “high level advisers” from both countries would meet at an unspecified location next week, with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading the American delegation.
Trump also said he would update Zelensky on his talks with Putin on Friday, adding; “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
He later told reporters he expected to meet Putin in Hungary “within two weeks”.
Trump has been seen as more sympathetic toward Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden, but in recent months has taken a stiffer line with Putin.
He had hoped a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August would help convince Putin to enter into comprehensive peace talks to end the war but that meeting failed to produce a decisive breakthrough.
They spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.
Putin spoke with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Russian president briefed Orban on his phone call with Trump, while the Hungarian leader said he would help organize a possible summit in Budapest. Putin also noted plans to discuss further steps to resolve “the situation in Ukraine” with US representatives, the state-owned Tass news agency reported.
The planned meeting in Budapest was “great news for the peace-loving people of the world”, Orban wrote on social media on Thursday and he added that he had spoken to Trump by phone.
Trump and Putin could have another talk a week after Rubio’s meeting with advisors, Orban told state radio. “Since the EU is pro-war, it is logical that it will be left out of this peace process,” he added.
Hours before the Trump-Putin call, Russia launched one of its largest attacks of the year on Ukraine, including 28 ballistic missiles, and 320 drones, according to Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna.
Stefanishyna said Russia launching overnight strikes on Ukraine before the call “exposes Moscow’s real attitude toward peace”. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
