US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he would be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest fairly soon, within about two weeks. He added that he had a very good and productive conversation with the Russian leader on Thursday.
"We are going to be meeting in Hungary. Viktor Orbán will be hosting," Trump said.
The US president also said that he would inform Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the developments when he meets with him on Friday. Trump also added that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov very soon to prepare the meeting.
Shortly before the White House press conference, Trump had first posted on Truth Social saying that his next meeting with Putin to discuss ending the Russian-Ukrainian war would be taking place in the Hungarian capital. The Russian state news agency TASS has since also confirmed the upcoming meeting and Budapest as the location.
Trump also said that senior advisers to the US and Russian governments would hold talks next week and that the US delegation would be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump and Putin will then meet in person in Budapest, but the date of the meeting has not yet been announced.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán commented on the announcement on Facebook, saying that this meeting is "great news for the peace-loving people of the world!" and on Twitter added that Budapest was ready to welcome the two leaders.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó posted that “it is fantastic news that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have spoken to each other again, and even more fantastic that they will soon meet in person.”
Budapest has been mentioned several times in recent months as a possible venue for peace talks. In August, Péter Magyar, president of the Tisza Party had suggested that Putin meet with Zelensky in Budapest, and a high-ranking US government official also mentioned the Hungarian capital as a possible venue for the meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. For now, however, it seems that this time around, Putin will only be meeting with US President Donald Trump.
We have sent questions to the Government's Information Center about the details of the upcoming meeting and its exact location, to which they responded by saying: "We will provide information on everything at the appropriate time."
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