Zelenskiy says preparing contract to buy 25 Patriot systems

KYIV, Oct 20 (Reuters/AFP): Ukraine is preparing a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defence systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in what would be a huge boost to Kyiv's abilities to defend against Russia's aerial bombardments.

In comments to media at a meeting on Sunday and cleared for use on Monday, Zelenskiy said the systems would be supplied every year for a number of years, and that Ukraine would seek for some European nations to give Kyiv priority in the queue for the systems.

Patriots are seen by Kyiv as the most effective systems to stop Russian ballistic missiles, which travel several times faster than the speed of sound.

Zelenskiy also said he would be willing to come to Budapest, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are due to meet, if a trilateral meeting or a "shuttle diplomacy" format was proposed.

The Ukrainian leader was speaking before media including Reuters reported, citing sources, that Trump had pushed Zelenskiy to make concessions in a tense White House meeting on Friday.

"After many rounds of discussion over more than two hours with (Trump) and his team, his message, in my view, is positive - that we stand where we stand on the front line," Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

After his meeting with Zelenskiy, Trump publicly called for a ceasefire on the current frontlines, a position that the Ukrainian president then embraced in comments to reporters.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump at their coming summit in Hungary if he is invited.

"If I am invited to Budapest, if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three, or as it's called, shuttle diplomacy, President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me, then in one format or another, we will agree," Zelensky told reporters in remarks released Monday.

Trump and Putin said they would meet in the Hungarian capital, possibly in a matter of weeks, as the US leader continues to try to broker a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war, triggered by Russia's 2022 invasion.