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Trump says he will meet Putin in Budapest, touting progress in Ukraine talks

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday to another summit on the war in Ukraine, a surprise move that came as Moscow feared fresh U.S. military support for Kyiv.

Trump and Putin may meet within the next two weeks in Budapest, the U.S. president said, after a more than two-hour phone conversation he called productive. The Kremlin confirmed plans for the meeting, though neither side provided a date for when it would occur, Reuters reported.

“My whole life, I’ve made deals,” Trump told reporters later at the White House. “I think we’re going to have this one done, hopefully soon.”

The development came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was headed to the White House on Friday to push for more military support, including U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk missiles.

NEW UKRAINE SUPPORT IN QUESTION

The White House had seemed in recent days to be leaning toward granting Zelenskiy fresh support and increasingly frustrated with Putin.

Yet Trump’s conciliatory tone following the Russia call left in question the near-term likelihood of assistance and reignited European fears of U.S. capitulation to Moscow.

Since taking office in January, Trump has regularly threatened action against Russia, only to delay those steps after talks with Putin.

Trump sought a ceasefire ahead of an Alaska summit with Putin in August that produced none. At the time, some analysts said Putin pocketed U.S. concessions with no intent to halt fighting.

Three-way talks between Putin, Zelenskiy, and Trump, another goal sought by Washington at the time, never materialized, and there is no immediate plan for such a meeting now.

The Republican president has positioned himself as a peacemaker, brandishing diplomatic achievements including the recent Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. He has said he thought the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s 2022 invasion, would have been easier to end.

“Putin is trying to derail the momentum toward greater pressure on Russia,” said Dan Fried, a former State Department official. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but the chances of moving toward a ceasefire by pushing Russia to get serious seem to have diminished.”

PUTIN WARNS TRUMP ABOUT SUPPLYING MISSILES

During the call, Putin told Trump that supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine would harm the peace process and damage U.S.-Russia ties, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

“What do you think he’s going to say, ‘Please sell Tomahawks?'” Trump later joked with reporters. “No, he doesn’t want,” Tomahawks given to Ukraine, Trump added, calling them a “vicious weapon.”

Zelenskiy, already in Washington, said Putin’s decision to seek talks showed he was on the defensive.

“We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” he said on X.

The Hungarian location selected for the Trump-Putin summit has drawn attention. Putin is wanted for alleged war crimes in some jurisdictions, restricting his travel.

Ukraine’s relationship with Hungary has grown increasingly tense. Zelenskiy accused Hungarian drones of crossing into Ukraine last month, prompting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to retort that Ukraine was not an independent sovereign state.

In contrast to most NATO and European Union leaders, Orban has maintained cordial relations with Russia while questioning the logic of Western military aid for Kyiv.

“The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world,” Orban said on X. “We are ready!” He later said he had spoken by phone with Trump and that preparations for a U.S.-Russia peace summit were under way.

The Trump-Putin meeting is expected to follow talks next week between teams led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a location to be determined.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he would brief Zelenskiy on the Russia talks in the Oval Office on Friday.

UKRAINE WANTS TO EXPAND ATTACK RANGE

Kyiv and Moscow have been escalating their war as it heads toward a four-year anniversary with massive attacks on energy infrastructure. NATO has struggled to respond to a spate of Russian air incursions.

Ukraine wants missiles that would put Moscow and other major Russian cities within its range of fire.

In its latest barrage, Russia launched more than 300 drones and 37 missiles to target infrastructure across Ukraine in overnight attacks on Thursday, Zelenskiy said. Kyiv has ramped up its own attacks on Russian targets, including an oil refinery in the Saratov region on Thursday.

In his latest warnings to Russia, Trump said on Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop buying Russian oil, and that the administration would push China to do the same. India has not confirmed any such commitment. The countries are among Russia’s biggest trading partners.

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Russian firm eyes investment in Afghanistan’s power plants

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Russia’s Power Machines Company is interested in investing in the rehabilitation and modernization of Afghanistan’s power plants, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) said on Tuesday.

DABS Chief Executive Officer Abdul Haq Hamkar discussed the potential investment with technical officials from Power Machines, with talks focusing on rehabilitating existing power plants, modernizing equipment and expanding power-generation capacity.

According to DABS, Hamkar said the company would cooperate in facilitating preliminary technical assessments of Afghanistan’s power plants and in exploring investment opportunities in the sector.

Denis Rudakov, head of Power Machines’ commercial department, said the Russian company plans to conduct preliminary technical assessments of existing power plants in Afghanistan.

Based on the findings, Power Machines will prepare proposals for rehabilitating facilities, modernizing equipment and increasing electricity-generation capacity, DABS said.

Afghanistan currently has several operational power plants, while efforts are underway to increase their generation capacity and upgrade their equipment, according to DABS.

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IEA denies it is holding Afghan-American Mahmood Shah Habibi

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Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), on Tuesday denied that IEA authorities detained Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman the US claims disappeared in Kabul four years ago.

“We have no information about Mahmood Shah Habibi. He is not with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. If he were, this issue would have been resolved long ago,” Mujahid said.

His remarks came a day after the FBI marked the fourth anniversary of Habibi’s disappearance and renewed its appeal for information about his whereabouts.

According to the FBI, Habibi disappeared near his home in Kabul on August 10, 2022. At the time, he was working as a consultant for Asia Consultancy Group, a Kabul-based telecommunications company. He had previously served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation.

The FBI has alleged that Habibi was detained by the IEA’s General Directorate of Intelligence.

The FBI has continued its investigation and in 2025 released a missing-persons poster for Habibi. The U.S. State Department has also offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his location, recovery and return.

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Justice minister rejects claims of ethnic, religious bias in land reclamation

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Afghanistan’s Justice Minister Abdul Hakim Sharei says the reclamation of state-owned land seized by land grabbers is a legal matter and should not be linked to ethnicity, religion or language.

Sharei, who also heads the Commission for the Prevention of Land Grabbing, made the remarks at a meeting with officials and representatives of charitable organizations in Kabul.

He said the commission is legally and religiously obligated to enforce rulings issued by the special court handling cases involving seized state land. Once the court determines that a disputed plot belongs to the state, the commission must enforce the decision, he said.

Sharei said the special court bases its rulings on documents, evidence and the law, adding that legal principles must be applied equally to all parties.

The justice minister also called on charitable organizations to work toward establishing a nationwide union and to expand their activities into fundamental and infrastructure projects.

He urged charities to avoid photographing or filming people while distributing aid, saying such practices could undermine the dignity of those receiving assistance.

Representatives of charitable organizations raised concerns over taxes, customs procedures and lengthy administrative processes. The Ministry of Justice said it would work to address the issues following the establishment of a nationwide union.

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