Trump raised Budapest talks — Tusk recalled past memorandum

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has discussed with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, the idea of potential talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in Budapest, but there has been no official confirmation of the conversation.

It is reported by Bloomberg.

Trump and Orban discussed the EU for Ukraine and a possible Summit

According to sources familiar with the contacts, Trump called Orban on the evening of August 19 to find out Budapest's position on Ukraine's European integration. According to media reports, the European leaders asked Washington to use its influence to convince Hungary to abandon its resistance to the beginning of talks with Ukraine.

Bloomberg's interlocutors also noted that during the conversation, the idea of possible future talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital of Hungary was raised. At the same time, neither the White House nor the Prime Minister of Hungary's office officially confirmed the fact of the conversation.

"Budapest? Not everyone may remember this, but in 1994 Ukraine already got assurances of territorial integrity from the US, Russia and the UK. In Budapest. Maybe, I'm superstitious, but this time I would try to find another place," the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, wrote on the social network X.

We are talking about the infamous Budapest Memorandum of 1994, by which Moscow undertook to respect the sovereignty and borders of Ukraine. Twenty years later, Russia violated these guarantees by annexing Crimea and unleashing the war in Donbas, and in 2022, launching a full-scale invasion. That is why Tusk sees a historical irony in Trump's proposal.

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