Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Hungary has twice offered to host peace talks between russia and Ukraine, and the offer remains valid.
He said this in a daily podcast broadcast on Facebook, in which members of the government participate, Reuters reports.
"If we are needed, we are ready to provide appropriately fair and safe conditions for such peace negotiations. We are pleased if we can contribute to the success of peace efforts," Szijjártó said.
Thus, Szijjártó responded to reports that the White House is considering the Hungarian capital Budapest as a venue for a possible trilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump, vladimir putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The US secret service has been preparing for the summit in the Central European country, and Budapest has become the White House's first choice, Politico reported on Tuesday.
At the same time, the Hungarian Foreign Minister denied media reports published on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump had called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to discuss Ukraine's accession to the European Union after a summit with the Ukrainian president and European leaders on August 18.
"I want to make it clear that there was no such call. There was not. Period," Szijjártó said.
At the time, a White House spokesman said that Trump and Orbán had discussed Ukraine's negotiations with the European Union on accession to the bloc on Monday, as well as the possibility of holding talks between putin and Zelenskyy in Budapest.
It should be noted that, as Ukrinform reported, Zelenskyy confirmed that he had appealed to US President Donald Trump with a request to influence Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán not to block Ukraine's accession to the EU.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, Reuters previously reported, citing diplomatic sources, that the US and European partners had agreed to hold a trilateral summit involving the leaders of Ukraine, the US and russia - the meeting could take place in Europe, with Budapest being mentioned as one of the possible locations.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and vladimir putin should take place in Europe, and advocated for it to be held in Geneva.
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