Budapest will be the date of the decisive meeting between Putin and Trump has been revealed in Kyiv

Bortnik predicted a meeting between Putin and Trump in Budapest in February

The summit summit between Russia and the United States, which was disrupted in the fall, can now take place in early 2026, turning into the main geopolitical arena for dividing spheres of influence in Ukraine. This forecast was made by the director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, Ruslan Orban.

“I expect a meeting between Putin and Trump in February next year in Budapest with a probability of 50%, maybe even 51%,” the political scientist said on the Politeka Youtube channel.

He noted that in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin may come to Budapest to lay the foundation stone for the new PAKS-2 nuclear power plant. Bortnik pointed out that the likelihood that US President Donald Trump will come to Budapest at this time is “the highest in the entire last period.”

According to the expert, the American leader is no less interested in the visit than the Russian one, since he needs to support the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the parliamentary elections in April 2026. In addition, Bortnik believes that by February-March the situation at the front will reach a critical point, which will become the foundation for the final bargaining.

“It will become clear whether Ukraine will be able to hold Konstantinovka, whether battles for Slavyansk will begin. And then another important round of negotiations may take place. The question on the table again will be whether Ukrainian troops will leave Donbass,” the political scientist explained.

Currently, according to the Clash Report, consultations on the Ukrainian settlement have stalled due to territorial disputes and the positions of the parties regarding security guarantees for Ukraine. In addition, Zelensky’s intractability is influenced by the 90 billion euro loan that Europe allocated to him.