US President Donald Trump held a "very productive" phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and announced that the two will meet in Budapest to try to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said that a meeting of high-level advisers, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would take place next week.
At the White House, Mr Trump said he would be meeting with the Russian leader soon.
"I would say within two weeks or so, pretty quick," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.
Earlier on Thursday Mr Trump made "great progress" during a long phone call with Mr Putin.
"President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this 'inglorious' war between Russia and Ukraine to an end," Mr Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the call lasted more than two hours.
Mr Trump is set to host Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Friday, as he considers providing Kyiv with long-range missiles and imposing more sanctions on Russia.
The US President has turned his attention to ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which is approaching its fourth year, after a fragile ceasefire agreement was reached in the war in Gaza.
"Interestingly, made a lot of progress today because of what took place in the Middle East," Mr Trump said on Wednesday at the White House. "Only the deep-thinking business people would understand that."
It will be Mr Zelenskyy's third visit to the White House since Mr Trump took office this year. The meeting is expected to focus on whether the US will agree to sell Kyiv Tomahawk cruise missiles – long-range weapons that would allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russian territory.
Mr Zelenskyy has long sought such weapons, saying it was the only way to pressure Russian into ending the war. Mr Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, have worried that giving Ukraine long-range weapons could provoke a direct US–Russia confrontation.
US officials have also said that it would deplete US stocks of the weapons.
Russia has warned that such transfers would be a “red line” and would raise the risk of confrontation with another nuclear power.
"I did actually say, 'Would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand Tomahawks to your opposition?'" Mr Trump said of his phone call with Mr Putin. "I did say that to him, he didn't like the idea."
Mr Zelenskyy is also expected to continue to urge the US to impose more economic sanctions on Russia, something Mr Trump has so far been reluctant to agree to.
The two leaders have had strained relations in the past. Mr Trump attacked the Ukrainian leader on his first visit in February, accusing him of being disrespectful and ungrateful to the US.
But last month, he said Ukraine can reclaim all of the territory seized by Russia, in a turnaround. The shift came amid frustration with Mr Putin, who he invited to a summit in Alaska in August that ended without a deal.
On Wednesday, Mr Trump said that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged to stop buying oil from Russia. He said India would resume buying Russian oil after the war in Ukraine ends.
