President-elect Donald Trump will withdraw from the conflict, and the EU cannot fund it alone, the Hungarian prime minister says
FILE PHOTO: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. © Janos Kummer / Getty Images
US President-elect Donald Trump will pull his country out of the Ukraine conflict, leaving EU leaders in an “uncomfortable and difficult position,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
“The situation on the front line is obvious. It’s a military defeat. The Americans will get out of this war,” he told Kossuth Radio on Friday. “Europe alone cannot finance this war.”
Some EU leaders want to keep pouring money into a lost cause but the silence is growing among those with such an opinion, Orban said, while others are calling for a policy reassessment.
Meanwhile, the few nations that have been advocating de-escalation and talks, including Hungary itself, as well as Slovakia and the Vatican, have been vindicated, he added.
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Orban’s prediction of a change in US foreign policy follows Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election earlier this week. The Republican has previously claimed that he could end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours.
The Hungarian leader expects major changes for the entire world after Trump’s win, which he said was so big that “it can be seen not only from the Moon, but also from Mars.”
Politicians who have been pushing for a Ukrainian victory are now in a bind, but they always knew that such an outcome was possible, Orban said. Earlier this year, he conducted what he called a “peace mission,” meeting stakeholders in the conflict. He traveled to Kiev, Moscow, and Beijing, as well as to the US, where he discussed the issue with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Budapest subsequently sent a report to other EU member states, which recommended that they should prepare for a shift on Ukraine, so “there is no reason for any leader to say that they were surprised,” Orban said.
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“The biggest problem in Europe right now is that they don’t talk to those who need to be talked to,” he said. “This is a luxury one cannot afford in politics.”
Orban was maligned by some other EU leaders for his diplomatic engagements. They claimed that he was siding with Russia and abusing Hungary’s rotating presidency of the EU by allegedly giving the impression that he was acting on Brussels’ behalf. The prime minister clarified that he was representing only his own nation.