Trump underestimates second meeting with Putin
(MENAFN) US President Donald Trump downplayed the likelihood of a second summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, as plans for a Budapest meeting were put on hold amid disagreements over a Ukraine ceasefire, according to reports.
"I don't want to have a wasted meeting. I don't want to have a waste of time. So I'll see what happens," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office while hosting a Diwali celebration.
Trump emphasized his demand for an immediate ceasefire that would freeze frontlines in Ukraine, saying, "I said, 'Go to the line. Go to the line of battle, the battlefield lines, and you pull back, and you go home and everybody takes some time off, because you got two countries that are killing each other, two countries are losing five to 7,000 soldiers a week.'"
Earlier, a White House official confirmed that plans for the second summit were postponed following a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, described as "productive."
Trump had initially announced on October 16 that he planned to meet Putin in Budapest within two weeks, following a phone call with the Russian leader. Lavrov and Rubio were scheduled to meet to finalize details for the summit, but that meeting has now also been canceled.
The reason for the sudden change was unclear, though Russia reportedly resisted Trump’s insistence on a ceasefire in Ukraine that would maintain current frontlines in the Kremlin’s ongoing war. Lavrov told reporters that the demand for an immediate ceasefire contradicts prior commitments made during an August summit in Alaska. He suggested that European officials encourage the US to pursue a temporary pause rather than a permanent resolution.
Trump also said he has "not made a determination," though it was not clear what decision he was referring to. Ukraine has requested US assistance in supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles for deep strikes inside Russia, while the Senate is preparing a new sanctions bill targeting the Kremlin, which Majority Leader John Thune said is awaiting White House approval. The proposed package already has 85 co-sponsors in the 100-member chamber.
Trump is scheduled to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday.
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