Trump chose: If we are going to meet with Putin, let it be in Budapest

US President Donald Trump said that he still prefers Budapest as the location for a possible meeting to end the war in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even though both Washington and the Kremlin have made it clear that such talks are not forthcoming, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.

"If we do have (a meeting), I would like it to be in Budapest", Trump told journalists during his meeting at the White House with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is also on friendly terms with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The American head of state did not give a reason for his choice of the Hungarian capital.

Trump initially suggested that the talks be held in mid-October in Budapest. But subsequent contacts between Washington and Moscow showed that Russia was unwilling to soften its maximalist demands on Ukraine, which prompted the American president to postpone the meeting indefinitely.

For his part, Orban added that a Russian-American meeting in Budapest would take place when the conditions were created for it, but no one could yet specify an exact date.