Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Tuesday that Russia has achieved victory in the Ukraine war, speaking days before a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In power since 2010, Orban has been criticized by some European leaders for his government's ties with Russia and opposition to military aid for Ukraine, while his cabinet is struggling to revive the economy from an inflation shock. Orban, who has maintained close ties with Putin even after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, became the only European Union leader on Monday not to endorse a joint statement saying Ukraine should have the freedom to decide its future.
"We are talking now as if this were an open-ended war situation, but it is not. The Ukrainians have lost the war. Russia has won this war," Orban told the 'Patriot' YouTube channel in an interview.
"The only question is when and under what circumstances will the West, who are behind the Ukrainians, admit that this has happened and what will result from all this."
Hungary, which gets most of its energy from Russia, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine, with Orban also strongly opposing Ukraine's EU membership, saying it would wreak havoc on Hungarian farmers and the wider economy.
