Polish PM rejects Budapest as possible Ukraine talks venue, citing historical symbolism

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk publicly criticized the proposal of Budapest as a potential host city for peace talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing its historical associations with broken security guarantees to Ukraine.

“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,” Tusk wrote on his X account, POLITICO reports.

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.

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) August 20, 2025

Tusk’s remarks follow a POLITICO report revealing that the White House is considering organizing a trilateral summit involving US President Donald Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy in the Hungarian capital. The report cited an administration official and a source close to the administration.

The choice of Budapest is likely to be contentious for Kyiv. The 1994 Budapest Memorandum, signed by the US, UK, Ukraine, and Russia, pledged to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders in exchange for its surrender of nuclear weapons. However, Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and subsequent military aggression rendered those assurances effectively meaningless, a point of deep frustration in Ukraine and among its allies.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — a close ally of Trump who has maintained ties with Moscow even amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — has yet to publicly comment on the proposed venue. On February 25, 2022, just one day after the invasion began, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó floated Budapest as a potential “safe location” for negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian sides.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have downplayed the likelihood of an imminent meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, and the question of where such a summit might take place remains unsettled.

Alternative venues are being floated. In an interview published on August 19, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed Geneva as a neutral site, an idea swiftly supported by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis confirmed that Switzerland is “ready for such a meeting,” clarifying that Putin would not face arrest there despite an active International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes.

In a separate development, Putin reportedly suggested Moscow as a venue for a one-on-one meeting with Zelenskyy during a surprise phone call with President Trump on August 18. That idea was swiftly dismissed by Zelenskyy and European leaders during a multilateral meeting at the White House.

By Vafa Guliyeva