{"id":168350,"date":"2025-10-17T05:19:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T05:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-trump-to-host-zelensky-in-washington-after-announcing-new-putin-meeting-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T05:19:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T05:19:54","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-latest-trump-to-host-zelensky-in-washington-after-announcing-new-putin-meeting-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-trump-to-host-zelensky-in-washington-after-announcing-new-putin-meeting-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump to host Zelensky in Washington after announcing new Putin meeting – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ukrainian and US presidents will hold talks in Oval Office after Trump said he would meet Putin in Hungary
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Donald Trump is hosting Volodymyr Zelensky <\/a>in Washington<\/a> to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine today, a day after the US<\/a> president announced a new summit with Vladimir Putin<\/a> in Budapest.
The US president will begin a flurry of diplomatic activity on Friday aimed at ending Russia<\/a>\u2019s invasion, a week after he helped strike a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In a post on X, Zelensky said he would meet with representatives of defence and energy companies ahead of his meeting with Trump<\/a> in the Oval Office.
\u201cWe expect that the momentum of curbing terror and war that succeeded in the Middle East will help to end Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine<\/a>,\u201d the Ukrainian president said.
The US president held a two-hour phone call with Putin on Thursday, during which the Russian president congratulated him on the \u201cGreat Accomplishment of Peace in the Middle East\u201d.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> would meet with Russian officials next week, followed by a summit between himself and Putin in Budapest on an unspecified date.
Hundreds of people gathered in the centre of St Petersburg<\/a> in a rare moment of protest<\/a> against Russian president Vladimir Putin to sing anti-war songs.
A crowd of young people gathered to sing anti-war songs in Kazanskaya Square, including the proscribed song<\/a> \u201cSwan Lake<\/a> Collective\u201d by Russian rapper Noize MC, in footage that has now gone viral on social media.
The song, banned from distribution by the Primorsky District Court in May, features anti-Putin lyrics including \u201cThe old man still clings to his throne, afraid to let go\u201d and \u201cWhen the tsar dies, we\u2019ll dance again \u2014 \u2018Swan Lake\u2019 on every screen.\u201d
Crowds could be heard chanting the chorus: \u201cI want to watch the ballet<\/a>, let the swans dance. Let the old man shake in fear for his lake\u201d.
Read more here:
Donald Trump<\/a> has agreed to a second Ukraine<\/a> war summit with Vladimir Putin<\/a> after a \u201cproductive\u201d phone call between the pair on the eve of a White House visit by Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a>.
A date has not been set, but Mr Trump wrote on social media that the meeting would take place in Budapest.
\u201cI believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,\u201d the US president wrote after the conversation, which lasted more than two hours.
Their previous summit, in Alaska in August, ended without any significant diplomatic breakthroughs for Mr Trump. Yuri Ushakov, Putin\u2019s foreign affairs adviser, said the Russian president initiated the call, which he described as \u201cvery frank and trusting\u201d.
It came as Mr Zelensky was heading to the White House to push for more military support, including long-range Tomahawk missiles<\/a> that would allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory.
Read more here:
Russian president Vladimir Putin\u2019s latest phone call with Donald Trump may have slowed growing US momentum to toughen its stance on Moscow, according to a former US State Department official.
\u201cPutin is trying to derail the momentum toward greater pressure on Russia,\u201d said Dan Fried, a former US State Department official and veteran diplomat who oversaw sanctions policy under multiple administrations.
\u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens tomorrow [on Friday, with Zelensky due to meet Trump] but the chances of moving toward a ceasefire by pushing Russia to get serious seem to have diminished.\u201d
The Kremlin described Thursday\u2019s Trump and Putin call as \u201cextremely frank and trustful\u201d.
Earlier, Trump had appeared to harden his position, voicing frustration with Russia\u2019s continued attacks and hinting at a possible decision to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Explosions were reported overnight in both occupied Donetsk and the Russian resort city of Sochi, as suspected Ukrainian drone attacks targeted sites deep inside Russian-held territory.
\u201cAn air defence system is active in Sochi. An attack by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is being repelled,\u201d Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin said.
In Donetsk, local channels reported that a Russian ammunition depot had been struck, setting off a series of explosions and large fires visible across the occupied city.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show multiple blasts lighting up the night sky, Kyiv Independent <\/em>reported.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on either incident.
Donald Trump appeared uncertain on Wednesday about supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, saying the US must also keep enough for its own defence \u2013 just hours before his scheduled meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington.
\u201cWe need Tomahawks for the United States of America too. We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we can\u2019t deplete for our country,\u201d Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
\u201cI don\u2019t know what we can do about that,\u201d he added.
Zelensky, who arrived in Washington earlier in the day, is expected to make a fresh push for the long-range missiles, which can strike targets up to 2,500 kilometres away.
Earlier, Putin\u2019s aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Moscow had warned Trump against arming Kyiv with the missiles.
\u201cVladimir Putin reiterated his point that Tomahawks would not change the situation on the battlefield but would cause significant harm to relations between our countries, not to mention the prospects for peaceful settlement,\u201d Ushakov said, according to the Kyiv Independent<\/em>.
Russia launched one of its biggest aerial attacks in months on Thursday, pounding Ukraine\u2019s energy network just as president Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Washington to ask Donald Trump for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
More than 300 drones and 37 missiles rained down across Ukraine overnight, sparking blackouts in eight regions and fires at key gas facilities.
\u201cThis autumn, the Russians use every single day to strike at our energy infrastructure,\u201d Zelensky said on X.
One of the main targets was the Shebelinka gas processing plant in Kharkiv region, where drones and missiles hit around 5.30am.
Huge columns of black smoke rose from the site as crews battled multiple fires.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said the Russian president\u2019s sudden push to meet Donald Trump shows the Russian leader is \u201con the defensive\u201d.
Speaking in Washington on Thursday, the Ukrainian president said Putin\u2019s eagerness to resume talks was directly tied to Trump\u2019s recent suggestion that the US could send Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv.
\u201cWe can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,\u201d Zelensky said.
His comments came after Trump confirmed he is planning to meet Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks.
One of Trump\u2019s main arguments for ending the war in Ukraine is that it would allow for strong economic cooperation between the US and Russia, the Kremlin said.\u00a0
In a statement, Yury Ushakov said: \u201cIt is noteworthy that one of the US President\u2019s key arguments centred on the premise that the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine would open up tremendous \u2013 and he stressed this \u2013 tremendous prospects for the development of US-Russian economic cooperation.\u201d\u00a0
After Trump and Putin\u2019s meeting, Trump said the pair \u201cspent a great deal of time talking about trade between Russia and the United States when the war with Ukraine is over.\u201d\u00a0
The European Union has unveiled four flagship projects to strengthen its defence capabilities against Russia by 2030, as recent airspace violations show that \u201cEurope is at risk\u201d.
The European Commission will submit the \u2018Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030\u2019 to EU leaders next week, essentially presenting them with a checklist of equipment to buy, with hopes of encouraging states to decide who will take the lead on projects.\u00a0
What are the projects?\u00a0
The European Drone Defence Initiative\u00a0<\/strong>
As a top priority, the plans include the European Drone Defence Initiative, which aims to build counter-drone capabilities to detect, track, and disable rogue drones. The system is expected to be initially operational by December 2026 and fully functional in late 2027.
The Eastern Flank Watch\u00a0<\/strong>
The drone system is part of the wider Eastern Flank Watch scheme, which aims to fortify defences along Europe’s eastern border on land, in the Baltic and Black seas, in the sky, and against hybrid operations. It hopes to be fully functional by 2028.\u00a0
The European Air Shield<\/strong>
The European Air Shield aims to protect member states\u2019 airspace by creating an integrated, multi-layered air and missile defence shield to protect against all Russian air threats.\u00a0
The European Space Shield<\/strong>
The fourth project is the European Space Shield, which aims to protect space assets and services against growing threats.
Donald Trump has suggested that the US may need to keep its Tomahawk missiles for itself, as Zelensky is expected to push for its supply at their meeting tomorrow.
He said: “Tomahawks. We have a lot of them, but we need them. We can’t deplete\u201d US stockpiles, the BBC reported.
The Russian president has warned Trump that supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would harm peace prospects and damage US-Russia relations, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
Trump said: “I did actually say to him, ‘Would you mind if I gave a couple of thousands of Tomahawks to your opposition?’ I did say that to him. I said it just like that. He didn’t like that idea,\u201d according to the BBC.
“You have to be a bit light-hearted sometimes.\u201d
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