Washington: US President Donald Trump stated he would like to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin only when a productive summit can be expected. Trump had previously announced that he had agreed with Putin to hold a new summit to discuss ending the war in Ukraine in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, following a phone call that lasted more than two hours and which he described as constructive.
According to Qatar News Agency, Trump did not comment on media reports Tuesday that the scheduled meeting with Putin had been postponed or suspended. However, in response to a reporter’s question about the upcoming summit and his position on the potential sale of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, Trump said, “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting. I don’t want to have a waste of time so I’ll see what happens.”
He indicated that no decision had been made yet, and it was unclear whether he was referring to the potential meeting with Putin or to the issue of selling long-range missiles to Ukraine. During his recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump expressed reservations about supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, which are capable of striking deep into Russian territory.
Several US media outlets previously reported growing doubts about the possibility of the planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest.