Moscow [Russia], October 24: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he assumes he will still meet Donald Trump, one day after the US president cancelled a planned meeting in Budapest.
"Now I see that the President of the United States has decided in a statement to cancel or postpone this meeting," Putin said on state television.
Trump is most likely referring to a postponement, the Russian leader added.
Moscow had already applied the brakes to the talks, emphasizing that the meeting would have to be well prepared.
After the cancellation, the Kremlin head stressed that the United States had proposed the meeting and the location. Putin said that while he had agreed, he had expressed concerns about the short preparation time.
After a telephone conversation with Putin last week, Trump held out the prospect of an imminent meeting in the Hungarian capital to discuss the war in Ukraine. He did not initially specify a date, but shortly afterwards said it would take place "probably in the next two weeks."
Following the announcement of new US sanctions on major Russian oil companies on Wednesday, Trump declared that he had cancelled the talks, saying in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that he did not feel they would lead to the desired outcome.
However, he maintained that a meeting between him and Putin would happen in the future.
"Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don't go anywhere," Trump said.
On Wednesday, Trump criticised Putin for not being serious about making peace and said that he hoped that the sanctions would force a breakthrough. "I just felt it was time. We waited a long time," he said. He called the sanctions package "tremendous", adding that he hoped they could be swiftly withdrawn if Russia agreed to stop the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had visited the White House on Friday, seeking to acquire long-range Tomahawk missiles that could strike deep into Russian territory, but came away empty-handed.
The day before, Trump had announced the proposal to meet Putin in Hungary after an unscheduled call from the Russian leader.
But following a call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the idea was put on hold, with Trump saying he didn't want a "wasted meeting".
Trump later said he had refused to give Ukraine the missiles as they were "highly complex" and took a year of intense training to use. Zelensky appeared to suggest that, like with the sanctions, Trump may change his mind in the future.
On Thursday, Zelensky pleaded with European Union leaders for long-range weapons after Trump recently turned down his request for Tomahawk missiles.
"When we talk about long-range weapons for Ukraine, we mean that the Putin regime should feel real consequences from this war," Zelensky said, addressing European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels.
"I urge you to support everything that helps Ukraine get such capabilities because it really makes a difference for Russia," he said.
It's not only the United States that has the needed weapons, but so do some European countries, he said.
Putin "understands that long-range weapons can truly change the course of the war," he said.
Source: Qatar Tribune
