After the failed summit in Alaska, Trump and Putin are preparing a new meeting in Budapest — now with the ambition to negotiate peace in Ukraine Photo Getty Images
Trump and Putin are preparing to sit down at the negotiating table again. After the summit in Alaska, both leaders are seeking revenge. But, as Bloomberg, FT and WSJ write, a new meeting may not bring peace in Ukraine closer so much as it may ease pressure on the Kremlin and question the unity of the West
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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet for a second time in Budapest to discuss ending the war in Ukraine after a fruitless summit in Anchorage.
Hungary was chosen as a “friendly venue,” with no date yet set – the agreement came after their lengthy phone conversation on the eve of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the White House, writes WSJ. The goal is to move the negotiations off the ground, but the very choice of the Hungarian capital is already raising suspicions among US allies, adds Bloomberg.
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Budapest Agenda
Trump continues to promote himself as a peacemaker, but he is also hesitant about new sanctions against the Kremlin and the supply of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. “The United States needs Tomahawks too,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what we can do about it.”
Trump called the option of imposing additional sanctions against Russia “possible in a week or two,” Bloomberg writes. Washington is considering transferring Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv and is already providing intelligence assistance for strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, the WSJ adds.
Why Budapest? Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is one of the few EU leaders who has maintained close ties with Russia, opposed sanctions against Russia and extended a contract with Gazprom for the supply of Russian gas. For Putin, this is a platform that undermines transatlantic unity, and for Trump, it is “friendly territory” where it is easier to promote his mediation narrative, writes Bloomberg.
Orbán wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that preparations for a “US-Russia peace summit” were already underway, adding: “Hungary is an island of peace.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban calls his country an “island of peace” and offers himself as a mediator in negotiations between the US and Russia Photo Getty Images
What could Trump and Putin discuss at the meeting? In Anchorage, Trump proposed easing some sanctions against Russia in exchange for a ceasefire, but Putin insisted on the actual surrender of Ukraine and gave the US president a “historical lecture” – from Rurik to Khmelnytsky, writes the FT. After the failure of this summit, Trump began to put more pressure on Moscow: he allowed Europeans to buy weapons from US warehouses for Ukraine and threatened to sell long-range missiles to Ukraine.
But the situation may change after Putin called Trump on Thursday, October 16. The outcome of this conversation will likely influence the talks between the US president and Zelensky on Friday, October 17, regarding the possibility of the US providing Ukraine with a powerful new weapons system.
Trump has made it clear publicly and privately that he is leaning toward giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 miles, two anonymous sources familiar with the discussions told the WSJ.
But under Trump, the Pentagon has imposed severe restrictions on the use of US ATACMS missiles transferred to Ukraine, effectively eliminating the ability to strike strategic targets in Russia. The final approval of each strike rests with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who can block any use of them on Russian territory.
This, the WSJ notes, has become the subject of intense consultations between Zelensky's advisers and the American military, as Ukraine insists that without permission to strike rear facilities, Russia continues to fight with impunity.
Now, after Trump's signals about the possible transfer of long-range Tomahawk missiles, Ukraine sees a chance not only to expand its arsenal, but also to reconsider the very logic of restrictions, which it considers political, not military.
If the White House does not ensure real pressure on Russia, the meeting with Putin could turn into a political risk Photo Getty Images
New meeting strengthens Putin
A second meeting between Putin and Trump could take some of the pressure off the Russian president without any commitments on his part. Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, called Trump's decision to agree to another meeting with Putin “almost senseless,” given that the summit in Alaska in August 2025 produced no results, despite the high-profile rhetoric.
For Trump, holding a second summit with Putin could turn into a serious political risk if the White House does not combine negotiations with real measures to influence Russia, says Celeste Wallander, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and former senior Pentagon official responsible for Russia and Europe under the Joe Biden administration.
When Trump described his Alaska meeting with Putin as “great and successful,” it prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to rush to the White House to convince the US president not to “betray Ukraine.” But the summit was a turning point of a different kind—a low point in Trump-Putin relations, after which US policy began to shift toward supporting Ukraine, the FT writes.
Zelensky's meeting with Trump at the White House on October 17 is shrouded in the Ukrainian president's hope for economic agreements and additional assistance from the United States.
Materials on the topic
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Category War Date October 04 Peace deal unlikely. Ukraine-Russia war enters new phase after Trump diplomacy fails. What are four possible scenarios? Key takeaways from CSIS analysis
Category World Date September 24 “Putin is acting according to Lenin's rule.” Russia is increasing pressure on Europe with provocations in Poland and Estonia. What are seven other pain points on the NATO map?
Category War Date September 17 “Trump's Putin Strategy Has Failed.” How to End the War? Forbes Asked Representatives of Western Political Elites About This at the YES Conference
Category War Date August 20 “Trump wants a lasting peace, but he made a mistake.” Where are the peace talks leading Ukraine and what security guarantees are real? Interview with former US Ambassador John Herbst
Category War Date August 19 An unexpected stance on security and an ultimatum on negotiations with Russia. Key takeaways from the White House meeting between Zelensky, Trump and EU leaders from Politico
