ISTANBUL

The Kremlin said on Monday that Moscow seeks to advance peace talks surrounding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war at the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Hungary’s capital Budapest.

The two presidents discussed the possibility of holding another face-to-face meeting during a phone call last Thursday, and agreed that representatives from both sides will immediately begin preparing for a summit, with Budapest as a potential venue, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

Calling the phone conversation "very productive," Trump said after the phone call that he and Putin could meet in Hungary within two weeks, after high-level delegations meet next week. The two leaders last met in Alaska on Aug. 15.

During a conversation with journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow would like to use the talks to first “move forward on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.”

Expressing that Moscow also expects to utilize the meeting to discuss Russia-US ties, Peskov said the choice of Budapest as a venue stemmed from Putin’s “very constructive,” as well as Trump’s “fairly warm,” relationship with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“This contributed greatly to the understanding that was developed during the last telephone conversation (between Putin and Trump),” Peskov noted.

He also said that preparations for the summit have not yet begun and “will only begin now.”

In response to a question on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s possible participation at the summit in Hungary, the spokesman said that there is still “a lot of homework to be done.”

“This includes work by the foreign policy agencies, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the (US) State Department. Their work will be focused on finding answers to the questions you've raised,” he added, noting that the details of the summit in Budapest have not yet been determined.

During a conversation with journalists published earlier Monday by Ukrainian media outlets, Zelenskyy said he is ready to take part in any format of negotiations that could bring an end to the over three-and-a-half-year war, including one in Budapest, which he believes is not "the best venue" for the talks.

"If I am invited to Budapest, if it is an invitation in the format where the three of us meet, or, as it is called, shuttle diplomacy — President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me — then in one format or another, we will agree," he added.

Commenting on media reports that Putin demanded full control over Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region during his call with Trump, Peskov said he has "nothing more to report" other than the information already provided about the meeting.

On Saturday, The Washington Post reported, citing two senior officials familiar with the conversation, that Putin demanded control over the eastern region during the phone call as a condition for ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

According to the report, Putin expressed willingness to give up parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, which are partially under Russian control, in exchange for full control over Donetsk.

"This answer is well known, the consistency of the Russian Federation’s position does not change," Peskov also said, with regard to a potential halt to hostilities in Ukraine along the current front line in the country.

He also noted Russia's readiness to expand cooperation with Iran in all areas, underlining the need for all to engage in negotiations in the context of Tehran's nuclear program.