Orban makes statement on peace in Ukraine after meeting with Trump
12 July 2024 12:57
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with US presidential candidate Donald Trump and discussed his “peace initiatives” to end the war in Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
“Peace mission 5.0. It was an honour to visit former President Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago today. We discussed ways to achieve peace. The good news of the day is that he is going to solve this problem,”
– orban wrote in his X.
Orban also posted a video showing him flying to Florida and meeting with the former US president.
On Truthsocial , Trump thanked Orban and said that peace should come soon.
“Thank you, Viktor. There must be peace, and soon. Too many people have died in a war that should never have started,”
– he added.
As a reminder, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, immediately after taking over the presidency of the European Union, embarked on an international tour that he calls a “peacekeeping mission”. First, he visited Kyiv for the first time in many years, then went to Moscow a day later, and also went as far as China. Orban labels his visit to China as the same “peace mission”.
At the same time, Orban continues to stubbornly mark his information materials with the hashtag and the mark #HU24EU, which means the Hungarian presidency of the European Union.
During his “tour”, Orban gave an interview to the German tabloid Bild, during which he stated that in the next 2-3 months, there would be more victims of the war in Ukraine than in the last six months. What such statements by the Hungarian leader may indicate in view of yesterday’s large-scale rocket attack on Ukraine – read in the article by Kommersant Ukrainian 
What is Orban up to and how to explain his unexpected “peacekeeping” activity? Interviewed by Kommersant Ukrainian
Hungary vs Ukraine
Orban’s visits take place against the backdrop of complicated Ukrainian-Hungarian relations and at the beginning of Hungary’s EU presidency. Among other things, Hungary is delaying the adoption of legislation that would allow Ukraine to receive up to €2 billion from the EU for weapons at the expense of profits from frozen Russian assets.
After a lengthy debate, EU member states agreed in May to use the proceeds of about €190 billion of frozen Russian assets held in the Belgian depository Euroclear to buy weapons for Ukraine. However, Hungary opposed this, refusing to provide unanimous EU support for each payment to Ukraine. At the same time, Hungary does not seem to object in general, but has concerns about the automation of payments.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Hungary took over the EU presidency for six months on 1 July, which gives it more influence and makes it even harder for EU officials to convince it.
At the same time, Hungary will not block NATO’s decisions on Ukraine, but it will not support them either.
Meanwhile, the EU is looking for a new strategy: how to help Ukraine without Hungary’s consent.
