Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to join Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at a proposed summit in Hungary if invited.
The U.S. and Russian presidents announced Thursday that they plan to hold talks on the war in Ukraine in Budapest, possibly in the coming weeks.
In comments published Monday, Zelensky told reporters: “If it is an invitation in a format where the three of us come together or, as it is called, shuttle diplomacy… then in one format or another we will agree.”
Meanwhile, media reports suggested his White House meeting with Trump on Friday turned into a “shouting match” – with the US side urging Ukraine to accept Russia’s terms to end the war.
Zelensky was cautious in his first press briefing since the talks, but his comments nevertheless made it clear that there were broad areas of disagreement between the two sides.
He called the meeting frank and said he told Trump his main goal was a just peace, not a quick peace.
He criticized Hungary as the venue for future Trump-Putin talks, saying the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban could not do “anything positive for Ukrainians, or even make a balanced contribution.”
When asked by reporters Friday whether Zelensky would be involved in the meeting in Budapest, Trump said he wanted to “make sure everyone is comfortable.”
“There will be three of us involved, but we might be separated,” he said, adding that the three leaders “need to come together.”
Zelensky had hoped to secure U.S. Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia during the negotiations, but he appeared to come away empty-handed as Trump took an evasive tone on the issue.
On Monday, media reports suggested that the atmosphere at the meeting of U.S. and Ukrainian leaders had been far more acrimonious than previously thought.
The Financial Times reported that Trump warned Zelensky that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if he did not agree to his terms, citing close sources.
The American side would have echoed the Russian arguments during this “volatile” meeting. He also reported that Trump had thrown aside maps of the front line in Ukraine and insisted that Zelensky cede the entire Donbas region to Putin.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Last month, Trump appeared to make a major shift in his stance on ending the war by saying kyiv could “reconquer all of Ukraine in its original form.”
He said his position changed “after knowing and fully understanding the military and economic situation between Ukraine and Russia.”
Trump had previously warned that the process would likely involve Ukraine ceding some territory – an outcome Zelensky has consistently rejected.
The US president has been pressuring NATO countries, as well as China and India, to stop buying Russian oil in a bid to create additional economic pressure on Moscow to end the conflict.
He had also previously threatened Russia with tougher sanctions if Putin did not meet deadlines to end the war, although he did not follow through on those threats.
Trump’s public relations with Zelensky have also improved significantly in recent months, notably since an Oval Office meeting in February in which he and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president on live television.
During his re-election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days, but has since admitted that resolving the conflict was more difficult than any he has been involved in since returning to power.
