Zelenskyy says prepared to affix Putin, Trump at Budapest summit if invited

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated he can be prepared to affix Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at their summit in Hungary if he’s invited.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin stated they’d meet within the Hungarian capital, probably in a matter of weeks, because the U.S. chief continues to attempt to dealer a peace deal to finish the three-and-a-half-year warfare, triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion.

“If I’m invited to Budapest — whether it is an invite in a format the place we meet as three or, because it’s known as, shuttle diplomacy, President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me — then in a single format or one other, we’ll agree,” Mr. Zelenskyy instructed reporters in remarks launched on Monday (October 20, 2025).

The Ukrainian president criticised the selection of Hungary, which has a terse relationship with Kyiv and is seen as probably the most Kremlin-sympathetic member of the European Union.

“I don’t consider {that a} prime minister who blocks Ukraine in all places can do something optimistic for Ukrainians and even present a balanced contribution,” Mr. Zelenskyy stated, referring to Hungarian chief Viktor Orban.

Kyiv has stated it is able to be part of a three-way assembly between Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump in a lot of impartial nations, together with Turkey, Switzerland and the Vatican.

in 1994, Moscow signed a memorandum in Budapest aimed toward guaranteeing safety for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in change for them giving up quite a few nuclear weapons left from the Soviet period.

“Another ‘Budapest’ state of affairs wouldn’t be optimistic both,” Mr. Zelenskyy stated.

Mr. Trump has been aiming for a speedy finish to the years-long battle in Ukraine since he returned to White House earlier this yr, pushing for a sequence of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officers and internet hosting Putin for a summit in Alaska — diplomatic efforts which have in the end not result in any breakthrough.