Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has stated that he is confident the Republican presidential candidate will “solve” the Ukraine crisis.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Donald Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, as part of his efforts to find a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. Orban, who has been critical of the West’s approach to the war and has called for an immediate ceasefire, recently visited Russia, Ukraine, and China to discuss potential peace solutions. Despite attending the NATO summit in Washington, he did not engage in high-level discussions with US President Joe Biden.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Orban said he met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida as part of what he called “peace mission 5.0.” “We discussed ways to make peace. The good news of the day: he’s going to solve it!” Orban wrote, accompanied by a photo of himself and Trump, both smiling.
Trump responded to Orban on the Truth Social network, writing: “Thank you Viktor. There must be PEACE, and quickly. Too many people have died in a war that should never have started!”
Orban has previously praised Trump as “a man of peace,” noting that under his leadership, the US “did not initiate a single war.” Trump has repeatedly vowed to end the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours if elected. Although the specifics of this plan remain unclear, last week Politico reported, citing sources, that Trump could broker a deal in which “NATO commits to no further eastward expansion,” specifically into Ukraine and Georgia, while holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin “over how much Ukrainian territory Moscow can keep.”
During his visit to Kiev, Orban urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to a ceasefire with Russia, a proposal Zelensky rejected. Zelensky also suggested that Orban lacks the influence necessary to negotiate an end to the conflict, asserting that only the US, EU, or China could fulfill that role.
Orban also traveled to Russia and met with Putin in an attempt to find, as he described it, “the shortest way out” of the Ukraine conflict. Numerous media reports suggested that this trip angered many Western officials. Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Adviser, stated that Ukraine had reason to be concerned by efforts to negotiate peace without its involvement. “Whatever adventurism is being undertaken without Ukraine’s consent or support is not something that’s consistent with our policy, the foreign policy of the United States,” he emphasized.