Trump and Putin hold phone call ahead of meeting with Zelenskyy

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a lengthy phone call ahead of Trump’s planned meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.

The call took place on Thursday and lasted nearly two and a half hours, marking their eighth conversation this year and the first in nearly two months. It came one day before Trump’s scheduled White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss a potential U.S. decision on supplying long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

In a post after the call, Trump described it as “very productive,” saying Putin congratulated him and the United States on achieving “the Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East,” which he said could help efforts to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump added that the two discussed postwar trade and agreed to hold a meeting between senior advisers next week, to be led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the location yet to be determined.

Putin, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, initiated the call and reiterated that arming Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles would irreparably damage U.S.-Russia relations while failing to change the war’s outcome, which Moscow maintains it is winning.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed that preparations are underway for a U.S.-Russia peace summit, writing on X that “Hungary is the island of peace.” Trump said he and Putin agreed to hold their next meeting in Budapest.

Trump added that he will meet with President Zelenskyy on Friday in the Oval Office to discuss his conversation with Putin “and much more.”