By Samantha Waldenberg

(CNN) — US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the war in Ukraine after the two men had a lengthy phone call that Trump described as “very productive.”

“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. President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more,” the president said on Truth Social.

The call between the two world leaders lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours and was held at the request of Russia, according to a Kremlin aide. It appeared to quickly shift Trump’s tone toward Russia, which has bucked his efforts to end the war. Trump later told reporters during an Oval Office event that he would meet with Putin “within two weeks or so.”

He also noted in his social media post that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead a delegation of high-level advisors to meet with Russian officials next week, with a location to be determined, and then provided additional details to reporters later in the afternoon.

“Marco Rubio is going to be meeting with his counterpart, as you know, (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey) Lavrov, and they’ll be meeting pretty soon. They’re going to set up a time and a place, very shortly, maybe it’s already set up. They’ve already spoken,” Trump said.

Putin immediately supported Trump’s idea of a planned summit in Budapest to discuss ending the Ukraine war, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said, describing the call between the two leaders as “highly informative and extremely frank.”

The plans come more than two months after Trump held his last in-person summit with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.

Budapest was a finalist for to host that meeting before officials ultimately landed on Alaska, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has maintained a close relationship with Putin and Trump.

“Preparations for the USA-Russia peace summit are underway,” Orban announced on Thursday afternoon following a call with Trump.

“Hungary is the island of PEACE!” he posted on X.

‘A very good and productive call’

Trump said in his post on social media that he believes “great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation” with Putin and noted a number of topics of discussion.

“President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the Great Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East, something that, he said, has been dreamed of for centuries. 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,” the president wrote in his social media post. “We also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over.”

Putin also thanked first lady Melania Trump during the call for her advocacy for children, Trump said. “He was very appreciative, and said that this will continue,” he added.

The first lady announced last week that Russia had allowed eight Ukrainian children to reunite with their parents, following months of private discussions between Russian officials and the first lady’s office centered on children separated from their families during the war.

Pressed for more information after the conclusion of the call, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the administration would provide “more details as soon as we can.”

“I was just talking with the president and the secretary of state and the vice president, and it was a very good and productive call. It lasted more than two hours,” she said.

Trump has flashed frustration in recent weeks as Putin has continued the war in Ukraine. But Trump has shown little willingness to push for US-led measures that would punish the Kremlin.

During the Oval Office event, Trump was asked about Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s plans for the chamber to soon take up sanctions legislation aimed at punishing Russia for its war against Ukraine. He suggested that it “may not be perfect timing” to pass the bipartisan measure, which has been held up for months as congressional leaders have deferred to the president’s desire to hold off on sanctions and pursue diplomacy.

“This may be such a productive call that we’re going to end up, we want to get peace. We want to stop the killing,” Trump said. “So I’m going to speak to him and the Speaker Mike Johnson. I’ll speak to them a little bit later, and I’ll tell them about this, and we’ll make the right determination. I’m not against anything. I’m just saying, it may not be perfect timing.”

Trump and Zelensky to meet Friday

The Trump-Putin call comes ahead of a meeting between the US leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.

CNN previously reported that Zelensky told a group of journalists in Kyiv that the main topics of his conversation with the president at the White House will include “air defense and our possibilities with long-range (missiles to put) pressure on Russia.”

Trump has recently floated the possibility of giving Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles unless Russia dramatically changes its negotiating posture – a suggestion Zelensky pointed to as he announced his arrival in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

“Tomorrow, a meeting with President Trump is scheduled – and we expect that the momentum of curbing terror and war that succeeded in the Middle East will help to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X. “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.”

The Kremlin said Trump had told Putin that he would “take into account” Moscow’s concerns about American Tomahawks being supplied to Ukraine.

In Thursday’s call, Putin repeated his longstanding view that “the Tomahawks would not change the situation on the battlefield, but that all of this would cause significant damage to relations between our countries, not to mention the prospects for a peaceful resolution,” Ushakov said during a Kremlin briefing.

Ushakov added that Trump “also said that during his contact with Zelensky, he would, of course, take into account the considerations expressed by the president of Russia during today’s telephone conversation.”

The president then confirmed in the Oval Office that the two leaders “talked about” the Tomahawk missiles for “a little bit.”

“l, we talked about it a little bit. Didn’t say much, but I do say to you, you know, we need tomahawks for the United States of America, too,” Trump said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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