Billionaire British entrepreneur Richard Branson, a vocal supporter of Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in 2022, responded to news of President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin announcing a plan to hold a meeting in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Note: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to join Trump and Putin if invited — though, according to Zelensky, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban could not do “anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution.”
Branson responded on social media to the meeting and its location, writing: “The utter irony of Putin and Trump meeting soon in Budapest to jointly seal Ukraine’s fate should not be lost on anybody. This is the very same city where the US, the UK, and Russia came together 31 years ago to give Ukraine ironclad assurances that its territorial integrity would be respected and protected within existing borders in exchange for giving up a third of the world’s nuclear weapons (to Russia!). Ukraine trusted the US, trusted the UK, transferred all its nuclear weapons to Russia, and joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
The utter irony of Putin and Trump meeting soon in Budapest to jointly seal Ukraine’s fate should not be lost on anybody. This is the very same city where the US, the UK, and Russia came together 31 years ago to give Ukraine ironclad assurances that its territorial integrity…
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) October 20, 2025
Branson added: “Within 20 years, Putin effectively ripped up the Budapest Memorandum, ignored Russia’s pledge, and invaded and annexed Crimea. In 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine finally removed all remaining doubts about Putin’s imperial greed.”
[NOTE: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt recently refused to answer a question about the Budapest Memorandum, neglecting to say whether there was a latent significance — as Branson implies — in the selection of Budapest for the Trump-Putin summit.]
Branson continued: “If treaties and agreements between countries are to be trusted, the US and the UK must stand by the original Budapest Memorandum and give the Ukrainians everything they need to push Russia out of Ukraine, as President Trump said he would do before taking Putin’s latest call. It is the only way for Ukraine to get its territory back and put an end to this brutal invasion.
“If the US and Russia continue to ignore the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, how on Earth can Ukraine be expected to have any faith in yet another Budapest memorandum signed in the same city between Russia and the United States? They can’t.”
Branson refers to Trump’s assertion in late September, before the most recent Putin call, that Ukraine could exit the war while largely maintaining its territorial integrity. Trump wrote then on TruthSocial: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
Then in a meeting with Zelensky this week after the Putin call that stirred Branson’s commentary, Trump seemed to reverse his position, cautioning the Ukrainian leader that he should accept territorial concessions to Russia in order to end the war. Otherwise, Trump — who the Financial Times reported had “adopted many of Putin’s talking points verbatim” — said Ukraine risked being “destroyed.”