Copyright tass
BRUSSELS, October 21. /TASS/. Several EU leaders are lobbying to participate in the planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Budapest, Politico reported, citing sources. According to the news outlet, the European leaders are also pushing for Vladimir Zelensky to participate in the Budapest meeting and all potential future talks. At the same time, a source told Politico that EU countries do not want Ukraine to "cede" territory to Russia, as Trump demanded. According to the news outlet, in case of such a step, "Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, among others, will ‘freak out’ and worry that Russia will come for them next," which would lead to "a massive rearmament in many European countries that would upend their internal politics." Following his October 16 telephone conversation with Putin, Trump announced that they had agreed to meet in Budapest soon. The US president later explained that this could happen within the next two weeks. After the leaders' conversation, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that Moscow and Washington would "without delay" begin preparations for a new meeting between the two leaders, which could be held in Budapest. On October 17, Trump met with Zelensky at the White House to discuss arms deliveries to Ukraine, the upcoming Russia-US summit in Budapest, among other issues. Later, Zelensky admitted that at the Washington meeting, Trump’s team demanded that Kiev leave Donbass. Following the meeting, media outlets reported that Trump had refused to provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
