Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban continues his pro-Russian rhetoric and says he’s convinced that Ukraine is not capable of winning the war that Russia has waged against it. Orban said this in an interview with Bloomberg.
Answering a question, the Hungarian prime minister said that Hungary does not belong to the “mainstream European approach” in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“My position, the position of Hungary from the very beginning, was that this war was a failure of diplomacy; it should never have happened. Looking at what is happening on the front line, it is evident that the solution on the battlefield is not working”, Orban stated.
“You are right that Russia has invaded Ukraine. But the question is not who invaded whom; the question is what will happen the following day. The next morning, and this is a fact, more and more people will die. There is no chance of victory for either side. This is a war that is taking many lives without producing results,” Orban said.
He added that emotionally, the war is “tragic”, and the hearts of Hungarians are “with the Ukrainians.” According to Orban, Hungary understands “how much Ukrainians are suffering.”
When asked if he was convinced that Ukraine was unable to win the war, Orban answered in the affirmative.
“My position is that looking at the reality, the numbers, the situation, the fact that NATO is not ready to send troops, it is obvious: there can be no victory for poor Ukrainians on the battlefield. This is my position,” he said.
The head of the Hungarian government noted that it is necessary to convince everyone of the need to reach the only possible solution, which, according to him, is a ceasefire. “After the ceasefire, peace talks should begin,” Orban said.
He also noted that Hungary had a unique situation in this war because “Ukraine is not a distant country.”
“Ukraine is our neighbour. And secondly, we have ethnic minorities living in Ukraine, 200 thousand or something like that. They are part of the war, mobilized into the Ukrainian army, and dying. We are losing lives every day, and Hungarian lives as well. So we are looking at this whole situation from a special angle,” Orban said.
However, Hungary has blocked another tranche of 500 million euros from the European Peace Fund, which supports Ukraine with weapons. The reason is that Ukraine has declared OTP Bank a “war sponsor.”
Germany and Hungary argued on Monday during a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels over the bank’s role in the Russian war.
Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto confirmed the blocking of a €500 million tranche from the European Peace Fund due to the inclusion of the OTP Bank on the list of international war sponsors.
Hungary’s government is consistent in its declarations and actions that fit Russia’s goal: Budapest opposes the EU sanctions against Russia, criticizes Western weapons supply to Ukraine, and blocks aid to Kyiv.
In the context of Orban’s claim that talks are needed, it’s not clear, nor he explains, how to start negotiations when Moscow shows little sign of concessions and of readiness to leave illegally occupied lands, and in addition, the Kremlin has almost no credibility that it will uphold any agreements.
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