Marta Gichko 06:24, 17.10.25 UNIAN
Analysts warn: instead of peace, this could give the Kremlin time and weaken support for Ukraine
US President Donald Trump has announced plans for a second meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, this time in Budapest. The move has raised concerns in Kyiv and among US allies in Europe, Bloomberg reports .
Trump’s first meeting with Putin, in Alaska in August, failed to yield any breakthroughs. But the US president, who once promised to “solve the war in one day,” has once again taken up mediation, despite warnings from analysts that it could only strengthen the Kremlin’s position.
After a two-hour phone call with Putin, Trump said he was ready to “seek a real path to peace,” but declined to comment on the possibility of providing Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles or imposing new sanctions against Russia.
“We need Tomahawks for the United States of America as well. So I don’t know what we can do about that,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
At the same time, the Kremlin reported that Putin warned Trump: any transfer of missiles to Ukraine “would cause serious damage to relations between our countries.”
Ukraine hopes the Kremlin will buy time
President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning a meeting with Trump this week. Kyiv hopes that the American leader’s growing frustration with Putin’s behavior will force the White House to increase pressure on Moscow, including through arms sales and energy sanctions.
However, analysts warn that Trump is likely to choose the “carrot, not the stick.” He stressed that he discussed post-war trade opportunities with Putin.
Historian Serhiy Radchenko of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies believes that a second meeting without pressure could be an “almost reckless” step:
“I see a lot of efforts for dialogue. But I don’t see maximum pressure yet.”
According to researcher Maria Snegova from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Putin is actually buying time:
“He is delaying the delivery of critical weapons to Ukraine and the implementation of energy sanctions that Trump promised.”
Summit in “friendly” Budapest
The upcoming summit in Budapest is already causing concern in Europe. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who maintains close ties with the Kremlin and opposes EU sanctions, has called the upcoming meeting a “peaceful US-Russia summit ,” saying that “Hungary is an island of peace.”
Trump, who has long considered Orban an ally of the MAGA movement, may view Budapest as “friendly territory” for talks with Putin. But for the West, it is a wake-up call: a summit in the capital of a country that has blocked support for Ukraine looks like a concession to Moscow.
Celeste Wallander, an expert at the Center for a New American Security, warns that if the meeting ends without concrete results, Putin will have the opportunity to “send a signal to the world that he is in control of the situation.”
How can putin travel to Hungary? He won’t get permission to cross from Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Greece, or Italy, etc.
That’s why this meeting will never take place.
Back to Alaska then?
Why not. I’m sure putler knows the way.
I’m sure the protesters still have their signs too, lol, I doubt he wants to go through that again.
I wish you’re right but I don’t see any of these countries doing the right thing.
Me neither.TACO would have a fit if the EU denied entry to putler, and of course putler would start whining about Europe being warmongers
He will travel via the Middle East, Adriatic Sea, Bosnia and Serbia. 😎