KYIV, UKRAINE
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump at their summit in Hungary if he is invited. Trump and Putin said they would meet in the Hungarian capital, possibly in a matter of weeks, as the US leader continues to try to broker a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war, triggered by Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion.
\n\u201cIf I am invited to Budapest — if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it\u2019s called, shuttle diplomacy, President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me — then in one format or another, we will agree,\u201d Zelensky told reporters in remarks released on Monday.
\nThe Ukrainian president criticised the choice of Hungary, which has a terse relationship with Kyiv and is seen as the most Kremlin-sympathetic member of the European Union. \u201cI do not believe that a prime minister who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution,\u201d Zelensky said, referring to Hungarian leader Viktor Orban.
\nKyiv has said it is ready to join a three-way meeting between Zelensky, Putin and Trump in a number of neutral countries, including Turkey, Switzerland and the Vatican. in 1994, Moscow signed a memorandum in Budapest aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.\u201d Another \u2018Budapest\u2019 scenario wouldn\u2019t be positive either,\u201d Zelensky said.
\nTrump has been aiming for a speedy end to the years-long conflict in Ukraine since he returned to White House earlier this year, pushing for a series of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials and hosting Putin for a summit in Alaska — diplomatic efforts that have ultimately not lead to any breakthrough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV, UKRAINE Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump at their summit in Hungary if he is invited. Trump and Putin said they would meet in the Hungarian capital, possibly in a matter of weeks, as the US leader continues to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-509766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n