President Donald Trump said Oct. 16 he plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump announced the meeting after a lengthy phone call with Putin, which he called “very productive” in a Truth Social post. He said that before their meeting, a team of high-level advisors led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet next week.
“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,” Trump said. “A meeting location is to be determined.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 16, 2025
He added that he and Putin 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.” Trump said the two also discussed postwar trade between the U.S. and Russia.
The call came a day before Trump is scheduled to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
“President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more,” Trump wrote in the post. “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
Trump met Putin in Alaska in August but reported no breakthroughs. Since then, he has repeatedly urged European nations to halt imports of Russian oil in an effort to stifle Moscow’s economy and weaken its war effort. In a September statement after a meeting with Zelenskyy in New York, Trump said Ukraine “is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form” from Russia.