‘No plans’ for Trump-Putin meeting ‘in the near future,’ senior official says
President Donald Trump has no plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
News that the meeting will not happen comes just days after Trump had said he planned to meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary in the coming weeks. Prior to that meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week.
“Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call. Therefore, an additional in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,” the official said.
Trump had indicated the Rubio-Lavrov meeting would be the stepping stone toward a top-level meeting.
TRUMP THREATENS TO ‘SPEAK’ WITH PUTIN ON GIVING UKRAINE TOMAHAWK MISSILES AS RUSSIA HITS HOSPITAL
“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,” he wrote on X. “President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more. I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
KREMLIN WARNS IT ‘COULD END BADLY FOR EVERYONE’ IF US SUPPLIES UKRAINE LONG-RANGE MISSILES
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week. The wartime leader asked Trump to supply Tomahawk missiles and other top-level defense weapons to Ukraine.
Acquiring Tomahawk missiles is a top priority for Zelenskyy, as the sophisticated weaponry would be able to reach far beyond Moscow and could change Ukraine’s ability to hit not only more of Russia’s military complex but its oil industry, which largely funds its war chest.
Trump made no mention of offering the weapons to Zelenskyy following their meeting, however.
Trump remains committed to securing peace in Ukraine. During a Tuesday lunch at the White House with Republican lawmakers, he emphasized that he had won peace in eight conflicts since taking office.
“We’re working on number nine,” he said.
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
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