Washington Looks Forward to a Summit Between Putin and Zelensky in Budapest

SadaNews - A U.S. government official revealed that the White House is looking forward to a possible trilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, in Budapest, according to Politico newspaper on Tuesday.

The U.S. Secret Service is preparing for the summit in the Central European country, and the Hungarian capital seems to be the White House's first choice, according to the newspaper.

In Moscow

This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Moscow as the venue for the anticipated meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents.

Two sources familiar with the matter revealed on Tuesday that Putin suggested a meeting with Zelensky in Moscow during his phone call with President Donald Trump yesterday, which lasted 40 minutes.

One of the sources said, "Putin talked about Moscow" during their call, but Zelensky responded with "no," according to AFP.

Macron Supports Geneva

French President Emmanuel Macron called for Geneva to be the location for a potential summit between Putin and Zelensky. In an interview aired on Tuesday on "LCI" in response to a question about where the meeting, announced after Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart and several European leaders in Washington, should take place, he said, "This is not just a hypothesis but a collective will."

He also noted the importance of it being in a neutral country, favoring Switzerland. He stated, "I support Geneva, or even any other country," reminding that past bilateral talks took place in Istanbul.

These statements came after Trump confirmed he was working to arrange a meeting between the two presidents with his participation, although he did not specify the timing.

He also clarified that all decisions regarding resolving the Ukrainian crisis should be made by the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, as the United States is far removed from the theater of military operations, according to his expression.

For its part, the Kremlin clarified that no date has been set for this meeting yet.