Trump says he’ll meet with Putin in Hungary

President Donald Trump is redoubling his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, announcing a second meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin one day before sitting down with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.

Trump’s announcement came shortly after finishing a call with Putin on Thursday. A date has not been set, but Trump said the meeting would take place in Budapest, Hungary.

“I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,” Trump wrote on social media. The two leaders previously met in Alaska in August, which did not produce a diplomatic breakthrough, a source of frustration for the U.S. leader who had expected that his longstanding relationship with Putin could pave the way to resolving a conflict that began nearly four years ago.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said the Russian president initiated the call, which he described as “very frank and trusting.” He said Putin emphasized to Trump that selling long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, something that the U.S. president has publicly discussed, would “inflict significant damage to the relations between our countries.”

Trump was already scheduled to meet on Friday with Zelenskyy, who has been seeking weapons that would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russian territory. Zelenskyy has argued such strikes would help compel Putin to take Trump’s calls for direct negotiations to end the war more seriously.

Trump tries to turn campaign promises into reality

Trump’s renewed focus on the war in Ukraine comes after forging a ceasefire that could end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, a diplomatic accomplishment that he celebrated with a whirlwind trip to Israel and Egypt on Monday.

Ending the wars in Ukraine and Gaza was central to Trump’s campaign pitch last year, when he persistently pilloried President Joe Biden for his handling of the conflicts.

Although there has been fragile progress in Gaza, Trump has been stymied by Putin, unable to convince the Russian leader to hold direct talks with Zelenskyy.

Earlier this week in Jerusalem, in a speech to the Knesset , Trump predicted the truce in Gaza would lay the groundwork for the U.S. to help Israel and many of its Middle East neighbors normalize relations. Trump also made clear his top foreign policy priority now is ending the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

“First we have to get Russia done,” Trump said, turning to his special envoy Steve Witkoff , who has also served as his administration’s chief interlocutor with Putin. “We gotta get that one done. If you don’t mind, Steve, let’s focus on Russia first. All right?”

Trump weighs Tomahawks for Ukraine

Friday’s meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy will be their fourth face-to-face encounter this year. After their initial Oval Office conversation devolved into recriminations, they’ve forged a more amicable relationship.

Trump has said he’s considering selling long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, something that Putin has said could further damage relations between Moscow and Washington.

Although such a sale would be a splashy move, it could take years to provide the equipment and training necessary for Ukraine to use Tomahawks, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the conservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.

Montgomery said Ukraine could be better served in the near term with a surge of Extended Range Attack Munition, or ERAM, missiles and Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS . The U.S. already approved the sale of up to 3,350 ERAMs to Kyiv earlier this year.

The Tomahawk, with a range of about 995 miles (1,600 kilometers), would allow Ukraine to strike far deeper in Russian territory than either the ERAM (about 285 miles, or 460 km) or ATACMS (about 186 miles, or 300 kilometers).

“To provide Tomahawks is as much a political decision as it is a military decision,” Montgomery said. “The ERAM is shorter range, but this can help them put pressure on Russia operationally, on their logistics, the command and control, and its force disbursement within several hundred kilometers of the front line. It can be very effective.”

Signs of White House interest in new Russia sanctions

Waiting for Trump’s blessing is legislation in the Senate that would impose steep tariffs on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports in an attempt to cripple Moscow economically.

Though the president hasn’t formally endorsed it — and Republican leaders do not plan to move forward without his support — the White House has shown, behind the scenes, more interest in the bill in recent weeks.

Administration officials have gone through the legislation in depth, offering line edits and requesting technical changes, according to two officials with knowledge of the discussions between the White House and the Senate. That has been interpreted on Capitol Hill as a sign that Trump is getting more serious about the legislation, sponsored by close ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

A White House official said the administration is working with lawmakers to make sure that “introduced bills advance the president’s foreign policy objectives and authorities.” The official, who was granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations, said any sanctions package needs to give the president “complete flexibility.”

Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein and Didi Tang contributed to this report.

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普加倍努力结束乌克兰战争，在与乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基在白宫会晤的前一天，宣布将与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京举行第二次会晤。

特朗普是在周四与普京通话结束后不久宣布这一消息的。会晤日期尚未确定，但特朗普表示会晤将在匈牙利布达佩斯举行。

特朗普在社交媒体上写道：“我相信今天的通话取得了重大进展。”两位领导人此前于8月在阿拉斯加会晤，但并未取得外交突破，这令这位美国领导人感到失望。他原本期望与普京的长期关系能够为解决这场持续近四年的冲突铺平道路。

普京的外交事务顾问尤里·乌沙科夫表示，是俄罗斯总统主动发起了这次通话，他形容通话“非常坦诚且充满信任”。他说，普京向特朗普强调，向乌克兰出售远程战斧导弹（美国总统曾公开讨论过此事）将“严重损害我们两国之间的关系”。

特朗普原定于周五与泽连斯基会面，泽连斯基一直在寻求能够让乌克兰军队深入俄罗斯境内打击目标的武器。泽连斯基认为，此类打击将有助于迫使普京更加认真地对待特朗普提出的通过直接谈判结束战争的呼吁。

特朗普试图将竞选承诺变为现实

在促成可能结束以色列和哈马斯在加沙地带战争的停火协议之后，特朗普重新将注意力集中在乌克兰战争上。为了庆祝这一外交成就，他于周一旋风般地访问了以色列和埃及。

结束乌克兰和加沙战争是特朗普去年竞选的核心议题，当时他不断抨击总统乔·拜登对这些冲突的处理方式。

尽管加沙局势取得了一些脆弱的进展，但特朗普却受到普京的阻挠，未能说服这位俄罗斯领导人与泽连斯基举行直接会谈。

本周早些时候，特朗普在耶路撒冷向以色列议会发表讲话时预测，加沙停火将为美国帮助以色列及其许多中东邻国实现关系正常化奠定基础。特朗普还明确表示，他目前最重要的外交政策目标是结束二战以来欧洲规模最大的武装冲突。

“首先我们得把俄罗斯问题解决掉，”特朗普说着，转向他的特使史蒂夫·威特科夫，威特科夫也曾担任其政府与普京的主要对话代表。“我们得先把这件事解决掉。史蒂夫，如果你不介意的话，我们先集中精力处理俄罗斯问题。好吗？”

特朗普考虑对乌克兰动用战斧导弹

周五特朗普与泽连斯基的会晤将是他们今年的第四次面对面会晤。在他们首次于椭圆形办公室的谈话演变成互相指责之后，他们已经建立了一种更加友好的关系。

特朗普曾表示他正在考虑向基辅出售远程战斧导弹，普京则表示这可能会进一步损害莫斯科和华盛顿之间的关系。

华盛顿保守派智库“保卫民主基金会”的分析师马克·蒙哥马利表示，虽然这样的军售会是一个轰动性的举动，但为乌克兰提供使用“战斧”导弹所需的设备和培训可能需要数年时间。

蒙哥马利表示，短期内向乌克兰增购远程攻击弹药（ERAM）导弹和陆军战术导弹系统（ATACMS）可能更有利于乌克兰。美国今年早些时候已批准向基辅出售至多3350枚ERAM导弹。

战斧导弹的射程约为 995 英里（1600 公里），与 ERAM（约 285 英里，即 460 公里）或 ATACMS（约 186 英里，即 300 公里）相比，乌克兰的打击范围将更深入俄罗斯领土。

蒙哥马利说：“提供战斧导弹既是政治决定，也是军事决定。ERAM导弹射程较短，但它可以帮助他们在作战层面、后勤保障、指挥控制以及前线数百公里范围内的兵力部署方面对俄罗斯施加压力。这可能非常有效。”

白宫有意对俄罗斯实施新制裁的迹象

参议院正在等待特朗普的批准，该法案将对购买俄罗斯石油、天然气、铀和其他出口产品的国家征收高额关税，试图从经济上削弱莫斯科。

尽管总统尚未正式支持该法案——共和党领导人也不打算在没有总统支持的情况下推进该法案——但近几周来，白宫在幕后对该法案表现出了更大的兴趣。

据两位了解白宫和参议院讨论情况的官员透露，政府官员已深入研究了该法案，提出了一些修改意见并要求进行技术性修改。国会山方面将此解读为特朗普对这项法案更加重视的信号。该法案由其亲密盟友、南卡罗来纳州共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆和康涅狄格州民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔共同发起。

一位白宫官员表示，政府正与国会议员合作，确保“提出的法案能够推进总统的外交政策目标和权限”。这位因讨论内部磋商而要求匿名的官员表示，任何制裁方案都需要赋予总统“完全的灵活性”。

美联社记者法蒂玛·侯赛因和迪迪·唐对本报道亦有贡献。