Hungary said it is prepared to host negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó offering Budapest as a venue that could provide “proper, fair and safe conditions” for all participants. The move positions Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government—as one of the few European Union members maintaining close ties with Moscow—as a potential mediator in a summit that could include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump. Zelensky welcomed further talks but reiterated that any face-to-face meeting with Putin depends on first securing firm international guarantees for Ukraine’s security. He listed Switzerland, Austria and Turkey as acceptable locations and voiced reluctance to meet in Budapest, citing Hungary’s opposition to Kyiv’s EU accession and its alignment with Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly backed Geneva, while U.S. officials have floated Budapest, underscoring the lack of consensus over a neutral site. Potential European hosts must also weigh the International Criminal Court’s 2023 warrant for Putin, which obliges member states to arrest him unless special immunity is granted for peace talks. The flurry of diplomacy follows Trump’s claim this week that preliminary arrangements for a trilateral summit could be completed within weeks. Putin and Zelensky have not met since a December 2019 gathering in Paris brokered by France and Germany, which produced only limited prisoner exchanges. With battlefield violence continuing and both sides far apart on preconditions, the choice of venue has become a proxy for wider disagreements over the shape of any eventual settlement.