The Financial Times reported that former President Donald Trump was reportedly ‘annoyed’ with Russian President Vladimir Putin for boasting about battlefield gains during their October 16 call, leading to the cancellation of the planned Budapest summit. The meeting, which had been scheduled to address tensions over Ukraine, was scrapped after Moscow’s hardline demands on the issue.
The summit, which was initially planned for late October, had been seen as a potential opportunity to de-escalate the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, with Moscow insisting on certain conditions regarding Ukraine’s neutrality and territorial integrity, the U.S. administration reportedly found itself at an impasse. Trump’s frustration with Putin’s public assertions about military progress on the ground was seen as a significant factor in the decision to cancel the meeting.
Sources close to the administration indicated that the cancellation was a result of both the evolving geopolitical landscape and internal disagreements within the U.S. leadership about how to engage with Russia. The decision to scrap the summit underscores the complexity of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the challenges faced by the U.S. in navigating its foreign policy, especially under a former administration that has historically had a unique relationship with Moscow.