EU officials said Vladimir Putin would need EU member-state waivers to fly through European airspace to reach a proposed Budapest summit with Donald Trump. The U.S. president announced plans for direct talks to end what he called an “inglorious” invasion of Ukraine. EU sanctions bar Russian aircraft, though national authorities can grant exceptions, a Commission spokesperson confirmed; neither Putin nor Sergey Lavrov face individual EU travel bans. No date is set. An ICC arrest warrant poses another obstacle, but Hungary signaled it would host him and ensure he “returns home” after talks, its foreign minister said.

Prepared by Rachel Morgan and reviewed by editorial team.