Overview

• Press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russian and U.S. foreign ministries will begin preparatory work for the Budapest meeting and that Moscow wants the summit to advance a peaceful path on Ukraine as well as address bilateral relations.
• The Kremlin said it has shared all it intends to about the October 16 Putin–Trump call and declined to comment on media claims of territorial trade‑offs, while noting the idea of a conflict freeze has surfaced in U.S.–Russia contacts.
• Russia’s foreign ministry reported a constructive call between Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on implementing understandings from the October 16 leaders’ conversation, and Deputy Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the Anchorage meeting set the framework for further work.
• Dutch foreign minister David van Vil urged the EU to strive to organize Russia–Ukraine talks, calling President Donald Trump pivotal to getting parties to the table and saying Ukraine must enter any talks from a strong starting position.
• EU foreign ministers discussed using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s urgent defense needs, with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas citing broad support pending legal and financial fixes, and Bloomberg reported the U.S. told European partners it would not join a proposed €140 billion loan for now.