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Zelensky ready to meet with Trump and Putin in Budapest

2025-10-20 10:30:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready to go to Budapest to discuss peace, although he has expressed doubts about Russian President Vladimir Putin's willingness to end the war that began more than three years ago.

" I'm not sure Putin is ready to end the war ," Zelensky said in an interview with NBC on October 19.

"I think he wants to continue the aggression."

The Ukrainian president has said he believes Putin prefers to postpone real peace negotiations and is reluctant to meet with him because it would mean the sides would have to agree on specific positions and potential concessions to end the war.

Zelensky has called for increased pressure on the Russian leader, saying Putin is "scared of sanctions" and that secondary sanctions would bring the Russian economy to its knees.

He made the comments after US President Donald Trump welcomed Zelensky to Washington on October 17 to discuss future peace negotiations.

Zelensky has headed to the White House - for the third time this year - with the idea of ??discussing an arms deal that would see the US military supplied with Ukrainian drones in exchange for long-range Tomahawk missiles, but Trump has been lukewarm towards such a pact.

The US president has called on Russia and Ukraine to immediately stop the fighting, saying enough blood has been shed, and has announced plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks.

The exact date of the summit has not been announced.

During the interview with NBC, Zelensky reiterated that he is open to engaging in bilateral or trilateral peace talks with the United States and Russia at the negotiating table.

The American daily, the Washington Post, reported on October 18 that Putin has demanded that Kiev completely give up the Donetsk region, a strategically important region in eastern Ukraine that is partially captured by Russia, as a precondition for ending the war.

In some comments Trump made after his phone call with Putin, he said that the region should be separated from the current situation, which means that Russia controls 78 percent of the region.

However, in comments he made on October 19, Trump denied that he had discussed Ukraine giving up Donetsk.

Asked in an interview with Fox News if Putin was willing to accept a peace deal, Trump said he would get something.

Territorial concessions are expected to be part of any eventual deal on Ukraine, although it is unclear what Putin might agree to, or what Kiev might offer.

Ukraine's constitution provides for a national referendum to approve any changes to the state's territory, a vote that cannot be held under the current state of war, declared since Russia's war in Ukraine began in 2022./ REL