«Historical irony»: Tusk against Budapest as a venue for peace talks

Donald Tusk. Photo: Getty Images

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he does not support the idea of holding future peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Hungary.

He wrote about this on his X network.

Tusk recalled that the talks were held in the Hungarian capital, where the Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1994. At that time, Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees, which were violated by the temporary occupation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

«Maybe I'm superstitious, but this time I would try to find another place,» Donald Tusk said.

The White House noted that US President Donald Trump had proposed Budapest as a venue for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the participation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

According to Sky News, Geneva is considered the best option, as Rome and the Vatican are not liked by Russia, and Budapest is not liked by Kyiv.

Vienna and Doha are reportedly being considered as other venues for the meeting. As a reminder, Vladimir Putin proposed to hold a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Moscow.

In addition, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said that the country would grant Putin immunity from arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant if he came to talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.