U.S. President Donald Trump will hold phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, October 16, Bloomberg reported, citing a White House official.

The meeting will take place on the eve of Trump's meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the White House, which is scheduled for October 17. Trump and Zelensky will discuss the possibility of transferring Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine, Axios wrote. This is the most advanced weapon in the US arsenal, Bloomberg noted. If Kiev receives it, Moscow and other major Russian cities will be in range of missiles from Ukraine, Reuters explained.

The White House did not respond to requests from Axios and Reuters for comment on Trump's conversation with Putin.

Context

Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration that Russia refuses to stop fighting in Ukraine and that Putin has avoided meeting privately with Zelensky for peace talks, Bloomberg writes. In September, the U.S. leader said for the first time that Ukraine was in a position where it could reclaim all of its territory. The statement was a "sudden change of position" and a "serious attack" against Russia, The Wall Street Journal wrote at the time.

In recent weeks, Trump has indicated he wants to increase pressure on Putin to end the conflict, urged U.S. economic partners to stop buying Russian energy and hinted at the possibility of giving Ukraine Tomahawks, Bloomberg added.

On Wednesday, October 15, Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised him to stop buying Russian oil. The U.S. president did not give an exact timeline for when that might happen. Three of six Indian energy executives interviewed told Bloomberg that the country's oil supply from Russia could indeed decline in the short term. Brent crude prices rose about 1% against this backdrop, pushing back from their lowest level in five months.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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