The White House said on Tuesday that President Trump no longer plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following a phone call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.
🚨 BREAKING — The meeting between PUTIN and POTUS is OFF.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 21, 2025
The two had a "productive call" so an in-person meeting "between the leaders is not necessary." pic.twitter.com/LQMBObsx5r
According to an official familiar with the situation, the Russians demonstrated a lack of willingness to align themselves with Trump's plan for peace between Ukraine and Russia. The war has been ongoing for more than three years.
“Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call,” a White House official told The New York Post on Tuesday. “Therefore, an additional-in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future.”
President Trump, following a phone call with Putin on Thursday, announced that Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart would lay the groundwork for the prospective meeting between the two leaders in Budapest, Hungary.
The call between Putin and Trump came only a day before the White House had its third meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to discuss giving Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles in an effort to pressure Russia to begin to seek peace. Following the meeting, no definitive decision on whether Ukraine would receive missiles was made.
So far, the Russians have talked about pursuing peace with the current administration, but have continued to ramp up attacks in Ukraine.
President Trump said of his Russian counterpart in August, "Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation. And then unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace, and then I get very angry about it."