Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to participate in the talks currently planned to take place between the US President Donal Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, sometime soon.
He told this to reporters during a press conference after returning from Washington, according to a Kyiv Post correspondent.
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When asked there were any plans to hold a three-way meeting, Zelensky merely said he would participate if invited.
“If I’m invited to Budapest – if it’s an invitation in a format where the three of us meet, or, as it’s called, shuttle diplomacy, where President Trump meets with Putin and then President Trump meets with me – then, in one format or another, we’ll agree to it,” Zelensky said.
Budapest – a poor choice of venue
Despite the fact Ukraine would agree to any format for the leaders’ meeting, Budapest is not the best place to start diplomatic negotiations. First of all, because Hungary has been attempting to block military aid for Kyiv from its European partners and vetoing the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Zelensky suggested other options for negotiations should also be considered, such as Turkey, Switzerland, Austria, the Vatican, Saudi Arabia, or Qatar.
“This is because we are talking about peace in Ukraine, not elections in Hungary. I do not believe that a Prime Minister [Viktor Orbán] who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution,” Zelensky said.
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“We have communicated both publicly and privately that we are ready for a meeting in any format that will be effective. Of course, I believe that the result is the key point. I do not consider Budapest to be the best venue for such a meeting. Obviously, if it can bring peace, it will not matter which country hosts the meeting. However, I must note that I devoted sufficient time to a meeting with Mr. Witkoff in Paris to make his idea about Hungary, so to speak, more restrained...,” Zelensky added.
Symbolically Budapest is a strange, some might say perverse, choice for peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. It was here in 1994 that the leaders of the US, the UK, and Russia pledged security assurances to Kyiv in return for giving up its nuclear weapons – at the time the third largest such arsenal – and its accession to the Treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear-weapons state.
The agreement is now viewed by many commentators and analysts as not worth the paper it was written on following Russia’s 2104 and 2022 attacks on Ukraine.
What does Trump hope to get?
According to Zelensky, the US president is trying to find a format that will be acceptable to all parties to enable negotiations to end the full-scale war:
“President Trump wants an end to the war and wants to find one or another format to achieve this, including a format for meetings or negotiations. He also believes that the ‘Hungarian format’ could serve as such a step – either the next step or the one that would bring the results he seeks. We share President Trump’s positive outlook if it leads to the end of the war.”
He also attempted to explain what Trump meant when he said talks would be based on “standing where we stand,” saying:
“After many rounds of discussion over more than two hours with him and his team, his message, in my view, is positive – that we stand where we stand on the line of contact, provided all sides understand what is meant.”
Following Zelensky’s meeting with Trump in Washington the US president wrote on his social network Truth Social about the importance of stopping the killing and concluding an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
He wrote: “The meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was very interesting and warm, but I told him, just as I strongly advised President Putin: it is time to stop the killings and conclude an agreement... Enough bloodshed, when the boundaries of territories are determined by war and courage... They must stop where they are now.”
Hungary will not arrest Putin
Despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) having issued an arrest warrant for Putin – to which Hungary is currently a signatory –he will not be arrested during his visit to Budapest.
Hungary had earlier stated that it will guarantee the safety of Putin when he arrives for the talks.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told reporters on Friday that Hungary would “ensure that the Russian leader can arrive in the country, hold successful talks, and return home.”
On the same day, Orbán and Putin held a telephone conversation regarding preparations for the planned US-Russia summit. According to the Kremlin, the call was initiated by Orbán, who proposed holding the meeting in Budapest.
On Thursday, Trump said he was looking forward to meeting with Putin within two weeks as part of a new initiative to reach a peace agreement on Russia’s war against Ukraine – ahead of which the Kremlin commented that “many issues still need to be agreed upon.”.
Orbán, one of Putin’s closest allies in the EU and a critic of Western military support for Ukraine, said that preparations were “in full swing.”
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