US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have announced a second meeting to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will attend the Trump-Putin meeting if invited.
As he left the White House in Washington on Monday after meeting with President Trump, reporters asked him whether he would be willing to attend the next meeting between Putin and Trump.
In response, Zelensky said, “If the meeting is one where the three of us can meet, as is the case with shuttle diplomacy… and in that case, if I am invited (to attend the meeting), then we will agree to it, regardless of the format of the meeting.”
The war between Russia and Ukraine began on February 24, 2023, and is still ongoing. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met for the first time in Alaska on August 15 to stop the war; but the meeting ended without any decision.
After that meeting failed to produce any results, Trump and Putin spoke on the phone several times. The last time was on Thursday, October 16. After the phone call with Putin, Trump told reporters that he was going to meet with the Russian president for the second time, and this time the meeting would be in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
After confirming the information on October 16, reporters asked Trump whether Zelensky would be present at the possible meeting. Trump responded by saying, “I want this meeting to be comfortable for everyone. If all three of us were there, then we would have a separate meeting with both of them.”
Source: BBC