Overview

• Trump announced he plans to meet Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks, with the Kremlin saying formal preparations will begin shortly and no date yet set.
• Multiple outlets, including the Financial Times, report Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s terms such as ceding Donetsk and relayed a threat that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if it refused; Trump has pushed a ceasefire along current lines and later denied discussing Donetsk cessions.
• Zelenskyy said he is willing to join the Budapest talks but doubts Putin’s readiness to negotiate and called for increased pressure on Moscow through tougher sanctions.
• Zelenskyy left Washington without a U.S. commitment to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles and is now seeking 25 Patriot air-defence batteries, proposing that frozen Russian assets help pay for them.
• Poland’s Donald Tusk and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas rejected pressuring Kyiv to give up land, and EU figures questioned Hungary as a venue given the ICC arrest warrant for Putin.