U.S. President Donald Trump will be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest for peace negotiations on the Ukraine war.
The news comes after a “productive” call between the two leaders. It could represent a significant development in the brutal war, which has been dragging on for almost four years, and also highlights Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s push for peace.
Orbán posted on X: “I just got off the phone with President @realDonaldTrump. Preparations for the USA-Russia peace summit are underway.” Hungary is the island of PEACE!
I just got off the phone with President @realDonaldTrump. Preparations for the USA-Russia peace summit are underway.
Hungary is the island of PEACE!
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) October 16, 2025Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó posted: “Fantastic news that @realDonaldTrump and Vladimir Putin have spoken again, and even more fantastic that they will soon meet in Budapest. The road to peace leads through negotiations. War cannot be solved on the battlefield.”
Zoltán Kovács, the international spokesman for the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, celebrated the news by saying: “@realDonaldTrump will meet President Putin in Budapest. Great news for peace-loving nations! We’re glad and ready to host this historic meeting.”
Trump is expected to meet today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House to discuss his conversation with Putin and the details of a possible peace deal.
Senior advisers from the U.S. and Russian governments will meet next week at an undisclosed location. The U.S. delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump and Putin will then meet in person in Budapest; there is no set date, but Trump indicated it should take place within two weeks.
As for Zelensky, he is still fervently on the war path, noting on X: “Already in Washington. Today, I am having meetings with representatives of defense companies – producers of powerful weapons that can definitely strengthen our protection. In particular, we will discuss additional supplies of air defense systems.”
“The language of strength and justice will inevitably work against Russia as well. We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” he added in a lengthy post.
Trump has also leveraged strong rhetoric over the past few weeks to exert pressure on Russia, indicating the U.S. may send Tomahawk missiles and that any Russian aircraft that strays into NATO airspace must be shot down immediately.
Anton Bendarzhevsky, director of the Hungarian Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation, told Magyar Nemzet that this historic meeting was made possible partly by pressure easing in the Middle East, with the peace agreement just signed in Egypt.
He says the U.S. will now focus its full attention on ending the war in Ukraine so that it can then finally turn to the issue of restoring its international dominance under threat by China.
Bendarzhevsky noted that an additional factor that has brought about this meeting is Moscow’s failed summer offensive, which did not lead to the capture of certain key Ukrainian cities, such as Pokrovsk or Kupyansk. With winter fast approaching, there is little more Putin can do for now.
