Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to attend a proposed summit in Hungary with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin if invited. The U.S. and Russian presidents announced Thursday that they plan to hold talks in Budapest in the coming weeks to address the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky also confirmed that Moscow continues to demand Ukraine’s full withdrawal from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as a precondition for a potential ceasefire. “The Russians’ idea hasn’t changed. They want us out of Donbas,” he told international media in Kyiv.

He recalled that Russia amended its constitution during the first year of the war to declare Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson as part of its territory and emphasized that the referendums held in these regions “had no guarantees whatsoever.”

In his recent meeting in Washington with Trump and his envoy for Russia, Steve Witkoff, Zelensky reaffirmed that Ukraine will not give up its sovereignty. Although Trump ruled out sending long-range missiles after a conversation with Putin, Zelensky described the meeting as “positive” due to Washington’s interest in economic cooperation and accelerating Patriot system deliveries.

The Ukrainian leader also rejected the idea of Viktor Orbán mediating the talks, citing his close ties to Moscow and hostility toward Kyiv.