Zelensky ready to join Trump-Putin talks if invited

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at a proposed summit in Hungary if he were invited.

The US and Russian presidents announced on Thursday they planned to hold talks on the war in Ukraine in Budapest, possibly in the coming weeks.

In comments released on Monday, Zelensky told reporters: “If it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it’s called, shuttle diplomacy… then in one format or another, we will agree.”

Meanwhile, media reports have suggested his White House meeting with Trump on Friday descended into a “shouting match” - with the US side urging Ukraine to accept Russia’s terms to end the war.

Zelensky was guarded during his first press briefing since the talks, but still his comments made clear there were large 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 criticised Hungary as the location of the prospective Trump-Putin talks, saying the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban could not do “anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution”.

When asked by reporters on Friday if Zelensky would be involved in the meeting in Budapest, Trump said he wanted to “make it comfortable for everybody”.

“We’ll be involved in threes, but it may be separated,” he said, adding the three leaders “have to get together”.

Zelensky had hoped to secure US Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia at the talks, but appeared to walk away empty-handed as Trump struck a non-committal tone on the matter.

On Monday, media reports suggested the atmosphere at the US and Ukrainian leaders’ meeting had been far more acrimonious than previously understood.

The Financial Times reported Trump warned Zelensky that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if he did not agree to its terms, citing sources familiar.

The US side was said to have echoed Russian talking points at the “volatile” meeting. It also reported that Trump tossed aside maps of the frontline in Ukraine and insisted Zelensky surrender the entire Donbas region to Putin.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Just last month, Trump appeared to take a major shift in his position on ending the war by saying Kyiv could “win all of Ukraine back in its original form”.

He said his position had changed “after getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia military and economic situation”.

Trump had previously warned the process would likely involve Ukraine giving up some territory - an outcome Zelensky has consistently rejected.

The US president has been pressuring Nato nations, as well as China and India, to stop purchasing Russian oil in a bid to create further economic pressure on Moscow to end the conflict.

He also previously threatened Russia with tougher sanctions if Putin did not meet deadlines to make progress in ending the war, though he did not follow through with those threats.

Trump’s public relations with Zelensky had also vastly improved in recent months, most notably from an Oval Office meeting in February when 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 resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to office.

Source: BBC
--Agencies