The Kremlin said on Thursday it would “immediately” start preparing a summit between Russian and US presidents after Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held an “extremely frank and trustful” phone call.
Their call took place as diplomatic efforts in the Ukraine peace settlement have been waning over the past two months, after a Putin-Trump summit in Alaska on August 15 failed to produce any substantial results.
“It has been agreed that representatives of the two countries will immediately start organising the summit which could be held, for instance, in Budapest,” Putin’s top aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists, including AFP.
Ushakov also said the Budapest location was proposed by Trump, which was “immediately” supported by Putin.
“It was a highly substantive conversation, and at the same time, it was extremely frank and trustful,” he added, saying the two-and-a-half hour call was at Russia’s initiative.
The two presidents called as Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky was on his way to Washington, to discuss potential supplies of US long-range Tomahawk missiles with Trump, among other things.
“Vladimir Putin reiterated his point that the Tomahawks will not change the situation on the battlefield, but will significantly damage relations between our countries. Not to mention the prospects for peaceful resolution,” Ushakov said.
According to the Kremlin, Trump said he would take into account what Putin told him before meeting Zelensky on Friday.
Since the Alaska summit, Moscow had ramped up strikes on cities in Ukraine, especially increasing pressure on its energy and railway infrastructure in recent weeks.
Kyiv has retaliated with a large aerial campaign against Russian oil refineries, driving the gasoline prices to a record high and disrupting supplies in some regions.