Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday, October 17th, that preparations were “in full swing” for a landmark summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to take place in Budapest, positioning Hungary as the diplomatic hub for peace talks on Ukraine.
Speaking on public radio, Orbán confirmed that he had spoken with both Trump and Putin in recent days.
I spoke with the American president last night and will speak with President Putin this morning … Outside Europe there are many places where such talks could be held, but within Europe there is no other place than Budapest … The Kremlin confirmed that discussions are underway to prepare the summit, but spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned that “many questions” remain, including the composition of the negotiating teams.
“Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will begin working on this,” he said, adding that the meeting could happen “within two weeks or a little later.”
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that his government would guarantee Putin’s safe arrival and departure, despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for the Russian leader.
“We will ensure that President Vladimir Putin can enter Hungary, hold successful talks here, and then return home,” Szijjártó told reporters. The Hungarian parliament voted to leave ICC in May this year, with the decision taking effect in June 2026.
The summit announcement follows Trump’s post on Truth Social on Thursday, revealing plans for talks with Putin after what he described as a “very productive” two-hour call.
It will be the second meeting between the two leaders this year, after an inconclusive encounter in Alaska in August. Trump’s decision comes amid his renewed push to end the war through direct diplomacy rather than military escalation, and following his successful endeavour to secure peace between Israel and Hamas.
The European Commission cautiously welcomed the initiative. “We live in the real world. If meetings move us towards a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, then we should welcome them,” spokesman Olof Gill said in Brussels.
Orbán has long been the outlier in Europe’s approach to the war. Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, he has consistently called for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, while other EU leaders poured military aid into Kyiv and demanded harsher sanctions on Moscow.
According to The Telegraph, the news of the Budapest summit is being felt as “a painful blow in Europe.” The British newspaper wrote that Orbán “must feel like the cat who got the cream,” hosting a meeting that sidelines Brussels and vindicates his years-long defiance of EU orthodoxy.
The commentary described the choice of Hungary as “a humiliation” for those in the EU who ostracised Orbán for refusing to follow their hardline policies, noting that a country “derided as Putin’s closest ally” has now been given centre stage by the U.S. president.
If the summit succeeds, Orbán argues, Europe will have to abandon its “war plans” and focus instead on security and reconstruction.
Zoltán Kottász is a journalist for europeanconservative.com, based in Budapest. He worked for many years as a journalist and as the editor of the foreign desk at the Hungarian daily, Magyar Nemzet. He focuses primarily on European politics.
