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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be ready to join Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at a proposed summit in Hungary if invited.
The US and Russian presidents announced on Thursday that they planned to hold talks on the war in Ukraine in Budapest, possibly in the coming weeks.
In comments published on Monday, Zelensky told reporters: “If it is an invitation in a format where the three of us meet or, as it is called, ‘shuttle diplomacy’… then in one format or another, we will agree.”
Meanwhile, media reports have suggested that his White House meeting with Trump on Friday degenerated into a "shouting brawl," with the American side pressuring Ukraine to accept Russia's terms to end the war.
Zelensky was reserved during his first press conference since the talks, but his comments nevertheless made it clear that there were major areas of disagreement between the two sides.
He described the meeting as open and said he had told Trump that his main goal was a just peace, not a quick peace.
He criticized Hungary as the location for possible Trump-Putin talks, saying the country's prime minister, Viktor Orban, cannot do "anything positive for Ukrainians or even offer a balanced contribution."
Asked by reporters on Friday whether Zelensky would be included in the meeting in Budapest, Trump said he wanted to "make it comfortable for everyone."
"We will be involved with the third, but it may be separate," he said, adding that the three leaders "need to come together."
Zelensky had hoped to secure American Tomahawk missiles to strike deep into Russia during the talks, but appeared to walk away empty-handed after Trump maintained a noncommittal tone on the issue.
On Monday, media reports suggested that the atmosphere at the meeting between American and Ukrainian leaders had been much more acrimonious than previously understood.
The Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Trump warned Zelensky that Putin would "destroy" Ukraine if he did not agree to his terms.
The US side reportedly repeated the Russian talking points at the “unsustainable” meeting. Trump was also reported to have tossed aside maps of the war front in Ukraine and insisted that Zelensky hand over the entire Donbas region to Putin.
Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Just last month, Trump seemed to significantly change his stance on ending the war, saying that Kiev could "regain all of Ukraine in its original form."
He said his stance had changed "after he became fully acquainted with and understood the military and economic situation of Ukraine and Russia."
Previously, Trump had warned that the process would likely involve Ukraine giving up some territory, an outcome that Zelensky has repeatedly rejected.
The US president has pressured NATO countries, as well as China and India, to stop buying Russian oil, in an attempt to create further economic pressure on Moscow to end the conflict.
He had also previously threatened Russia with tougher sanctions if Putin did not meet deadlines for making progress in ending the war, although he did not follow through on those threats.
Trump's public relations with Zelensky had also improved greatly in recent months, most notably since an Oval Office meeting in February when he and Vice President JD Vance rebuked the Ukrainian president on live television.
During his reelection campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days, but has since acknowledged that resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has faced since returning to office.
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