Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet in Budapest "to evaluate" whether it is possible to put an end "to this 'inglorious' war between Russia and Ukraine." The US president himself announced this after a long phone call with the head of the Kremlin. A conversation that Trump called"very productive" and in which "great progress was made. The first appointment is next week when"a meeting of our High ...

Zelensky's visit to the US – A phone call that comes on the eve of Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the White House. The main topic of the Ukrainian president's mission was supposed to be the supply of long-range subsonic cruise missiles Tomahawk. A hypothesis that had already provoked a harsh reaction from Moscow. For Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the possible supply would have entailed a dangerous exacerbation of relations between Russia and the United States, taking the situation"to another level". The meeting is confirmed: “President Zelensky and I will meet tomorrow in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin and much more,” Trump wrote in his post.

“We also talked about trade” – Trump also announced that Putin “congratulated him and the United States “on the great achievement of peace in the Middle East , something he said has been dreamed of for centuries. I truly believe that success in the Middle East will contribute to our negotiations to end the war with Russia and Ukraine,” the US president wrote on Truth, reporting that “Putin thanked the First Lady, Melania, for her commitment to children. He showed great appreciation and said he will continue to do so.” Furthermore, “we also spent a lot of time talking about trade between Russia and the United States once the war with Ukraine is over,” he concluded. Trump himself announced that the call was underway."I'm speaking now with President Putin. The conversation is ongoing, it's long, and I will report back, as will President Putin, at the end. Thank you for your attention!" he wrote in a previous post. The last time the US president spoke with Putin was almost two months ago, on August 18, when several European leaders were at the White House following the results of the Alaska summit. Since then, Trump has become increasingly critical of Putin for his reluctance to stop the war in Ukraine.

Orban: “It’s great news, we’re ready” – “The scheduled meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for peace-loving peoples around the world. We’re ready,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban tweeted, commenting on the announcement of the meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest.

The war in Ukraine – Meanwhile, the conflict continues. Zelensky denounced Russian attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure on Telegram. Over 300 drones and 37 missiles were launched by Moscow's army, according to the Kiev leader:"Tonight there is talk of attacks on our people, our energy sector, and our civilian infrastructure. Russia has used more than 300 attack drones and 37 missiles, a significant number of which are ballistic, against Ukraine. Infrastructure in the Vinnytsia, Sumy, and Poltava regions has been attacked." In Nizhyn, in the Chernihiv region, the post office was damaged and one person was injured.

Kiev imposes power outages – And as Russia intensifies its attacks on the country's energy grid, Ukraine has imposed nationwide power outages for the second day in a row, the state power grid operator said."Due to the difficult situation in the energy system, emergency power outages have been implemented in all regions of Ukraine," Ukrenergo said in a statement.

Ukrainian raids – The Kremlin also reported a Ukrainian attack on an power plant . According to the Tass agency, a massive Kiev drone strike was carried out in the Volgograd region. Falling debris caused a fire to break out on the premises of the Balashovskaya power transmission substation, which is being extinguished, according to Governor Andrei Bocharov."The air defense forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation repelled a massive attack by unmanned aerial vehicles on energy infrastructure in the Volgograd region," the press service of the regional administration reported, citing the governor.