Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed willingness to attend a proposed peace summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Hungary if officially invited.
Trump and Putin recently announced plans to meet in Budapest within weeks, as Washington intensifies efforts to end the three-and-a-half-year war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“If I am invited to Budapest—if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it’s called, shuttle diplomacy, President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me—then in one format or another, we will agree,” Zelensky told reporters in remarks released on Monday.
However, the Ukrainian leader voiced displeasure over the choice of Hungary as the host nation, citing Budapest’s strained ties with Kyiv and Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s perceived closeness to Moscow.
“I do not believe that a prime minister who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution,” Zelensky said.
Kyiv, he added, would prefer neutral venues such as Turkey, Switzerland, or the Vatican for any trilateral talks aimed at peace.
Zelensky also referenced the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Moscow pledged to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty in exchange for Kyiv relinquishing its nuclear arsenal. “Another ‘Budapest’ scenario wouldn’t be positive either,” he warned.
Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this year, has been pressing for a swift resolution to the conflict, pursuing direct diplomacy between Moscow and Kyiv. His earlier summit with Putin in Alaska, however, failed to yield any significant breakthrough.
What You Should Know
President Zelensky’s openness to attending the Budapest summit reflects cautious diplomacy amid ongoing US-led peace efforts.
However, his scepticism toward Hungary underscores Kyiv’s mistrust of Prime Minister Orban’s Kremlin-friendly stance—a factor that could complicate Trump’s push for a negotiated end to the war.
