Trump Just Had a Phone Call With Putin – Here’s What’s Happening Next
President Donald Trump placed a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and he described the exchange in bluntly optimistic terms. Trump posted that the conversation was “very productive” and detailed several concrete next steps he says were agreed. This touchpoint follows months of diplomatic activity aimed at reducing global tensions.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote that Putin congratulated him for brokering a deal between Israel and Hamas, and he tied that success to broader prospects for peace. He said, “I actually believe that the Success in the Middle East will help in our negotiation in attaining an end to the War with Russia/Ukraine,” signaling a strategic view that one regional breakthrough can open doors elsewhere. That framing underlines a transactional approach to diplomacy where wins in one theater create leverage in another.
Trump also reported that the two leaders “spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over,” and he stressed follow-up planning. He said the presidents “agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week,” which raises expectations for concrete negotiation tracks to begin soon. That meeting could set logistics and agendas for a larger summit.
The president named Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lead a delegation for those talks, with the location to be set later. Trump added, “President Putin and I 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,” putting a potential face-to-face back on the table. He also noted, “[Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more. I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the president’s upbeat read, calling the exchange “productive” during a Fox News appearance. That public alignment between the president and his press shop signals the administration intends to press forward with the track laid out. Messaging consistency matters when simmering geopolitical risks are on the line.
The development could open a three-way negotiation format involving Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv, which would be a meaningful change from the current, largely bilateral and proxy-driven posture. After nearly four years of fighting, the front lines in Ukraine have mostly frozen, with Russian forces still occupying parts of the east. The U.S. and European allies have kept military and financial support flowing to Ukraine while debating endgames.
Trump and Putin met earlier this year in Alaska in a bid to get negotiations moving, but that summit produced limited follow-through. If a Budapest meeting actually takes place, it would be the highest-profile attempt yet to convert talks into a political settlement. The White House is betting that diplomatic momentum from the Israel-Hamas agreement can be repurposed to unlock a resolution in Ukraine.
Expect partisan pushback if the Budapest meeting occurs, especially from progressive voices who have often criticized outreach to Russia. The left’s outrage at previous direct talks with Putin shows how charged any summit will be politically, even if it aims to end bloodshed. Still, this administration appears willing to absorb the heat in pursuit of a negotiated pause or settlement.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
