Zelensky says he is ready to join Trump-Putin talks if invited
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be ready to join Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the summit planned to be held in Hungary, if invited.
The presidents of the United States and Russia announced Thursday that they plan to hold talks about the war in Ukraine, possibly in Budapest in the coming weeks.
In comments published Monday, Zelensky told reporters: “If this is an invitation in the format that we will meet as a trio, or, as it is called, shuttle diplomacy… then we will accept it in one format or another.”
Meanwhile, media reports claimed that the meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday turned into “shouting” and that the US side called on Ukraine to accept Russia’s conditions to end the war.
Zelensky was reserved in his first press conference since the talks, but his comments still made clear there were broad areas of disagreement between the two sides.
He described the meeting as frank, and said he had told Trump that his main aim was a just peace, not a quick peace.
He criticized Hungary as the site of possible Trump-Putin talks, saying the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban “cannot do anything positive for the Ukrainians, or even make a balanced contribution.”
Asked by reporters on Friday whether Zelensky would attend the meeting in Budapest, Trump said he wanted to “provide a comfortable environment for everyone.”
“We will participate as a trio, but it may split,” he said, adding that the three leaders “must come together.”
Zelensky was hoping to get US Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia during the talks, but he appeared to have gone empty-handed after Trump took a non-committal stance on the issue.
Media reports on Monday suggested that the atmosphere at the meeting of US and Ukrainian leaders was much harsher than previously understood.
Financial Times reported Citing familiar sources, Trump warned Zelensky that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if he did not accept Ukraine’s terms.
It was said that the US side reiterated the issues discussed by Russia in the “volatile” meeting. It was also reported that Trump tossed aside maps of the front lines in Ukraine and insisted that Zelensky hand over the entire Donbas region to Putin.
Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Just last month, Trump appeared to have made a decision major change in position about ending the war, saying that Kiev could “regain the whole of Ukraine in its original form.”
He said his attitude changed “after recognizing and fully understanding the Ukrainian/Russian military and economic situation.”
Trump had previously warned that the process would likely require Ukraine to give up some territory; Zelensky has consistently rejected this conclusion.
The US president has been pressuring NATO countries, as well as China and India, to stop buying Russian oil in order to put more economic pressure on Moscow to end the conflict.
He had also previously threatened Russia with tougher sanctions if Putin did not meet deadlines to make progress on ending the war, but he did not follow through on those threats.
Trump’s public relations with Zelensky have also improved greatly in recent months; most notably since a February Oval Office meeting in which he and Vice President J.D. Vance berated the Ukrainian president on live television.
During his re-election campaign, Trump claimed he could end the war in Ukraine in a matter of days, but has since acknowledged that resolving the conflict is more challenging than any issue he has been involved in since returning to office.
