Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to join a proposed summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary, if formally invited.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Zelensky said, “If it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three, or what’s called shuttle diplomacy, then in one form or another, we will agree.” His comments came days after Washington and Moscow confirmed plans to hold direct talks in Budapest “within weeks,” aiming to address the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Zelensky’s openness to the summit followed reports of a volatile meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday, where discussions over the path to peace in Ukraine reportedly turned heated.
According to multiple outlets including the Financial Times, the talks “descended into a shouting match,” with Trump allegedly warning that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine unless Kyiv accepted Russia’s conditions to end the conflict.
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US officials were said to have echoed elements of Moscow’s stance, urging Ukraine to consider territorial concessions in the Donbas region. The FT also reported that Trump dismissed maps of the frontline during the exchange and insisted Ukraine surrender the eastern territories to achieve peace.
At his first press briefing since returning from Washington, Zelensky described the conversation as “frank” but reaffirmed his goal of achieving a “just peace, not a quick peace.”
He said Kyiv would not accept any settlement that legitimises Russian occupation, noting that Ukraine had sought to secure US Tomahawk missiles for deeper strikes into Russian territory, a request that Trump did not commit to.
Zelensky also criticised the choice of Budapest as a potential summit venue, arguing that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “cannot do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution.”
When asked by reporters if Zelensky would take part in the Budapest talks, Trump said he wanted to “make it comfortable for everybody.”
“We’ll be involved in threes, but it may be separated,” he said, adding that “the three leaders have to get together.”
The proposed meeting, first disclosed last Thursday, would mark the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Putin since the US leader’s return to office earlier this year.
Trump’s stance on the Ukraine war has shifted multiple times in recent months. Last month, he told reporters that Kyiv could “win all of Ukraine back in its original form,” a remark seen as a reversal from his earlier suggestion that the conflict would require Ukraine to c
ede territory.
He has also pressed NATO allies and major economies such as China and India to halt purchases of Russian oil in a bid to increase financial pressure on Moscow.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sparking Europe’s largest land war since World War II. Despite international sanctions and military aid to Kyiv, the conflict remains deadlocked across several fronts.