Ukraine is incapable of winning the war with Russia, and instead of the West helping to escalate the conflict, it should be calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations to prevent further bloodshed, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said.
In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum, the Hungarian leader called the war a failure of diplomacy that should never have happened. He further called upon Western leaders to stop focusing on who initiated the conflict and start to look to negotiations that could bring in a new era of European security.
“My position is that, looking at the reality, looking at the figures, looking at the surroundings and the fact that NATO is not ready to send troops, it is obvious that there is no victory for Ukrainians on the battlefield,” Orbán told John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News.
“That is my position. That is always my suggestion to everybody that escalation should be stopped and that we should argue in favor of peace and negotiation,” he added.
The Hungarian leader slammed the strategy being pushed by EU leaders and the Biden administration in favor of further military assistance to Kyiv.
“Whoever is right or whoever is not, the question is not who invaded whom. The question is what will be the next morning or the next morning?
“The fact is that more and more people will die and there is no chance to have a victory on either side. So this is a war. We just deprive many people of their lives without having results,” he stated.
He added that while he feels conflicted emotionally, politicians should be pragmatic regarding the situation the continent finds itself in and must prioritize the humanitarian approach and preserving life.
“Emotionally, it’s tragic. So all our hearts are with the Ukrainians. We understand how much they suffer.
“But I am speaking as a politician who should save lives. Because the most important thing for the international community is to save lives,” Orbán told the U.S. media outlet.
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Hungary is currently blocking the latest release of EU military funding to Kyiv, believed to be a package worth €500 million, after Ukraine opted to include Hungary’s largest bank, OTP, on a “war sponsors” list.
It is also understood that the friction has caused a delay in the latest round of anti-Russian sanctions being considered in Brussels, a move that has enraged EU diplomats and fellow member states.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock alleged on Monday in a closed-door debate that OTP has approved credit lines to the Russian military and recognizes the independence of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, an accusation soundly rejected by Hungarian government officials and the bank itself.
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Hungary’s only demand, as revealed by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is that Ukraine removes the bank from its “war sponsors” list; however, officials in Kyiv are not playing ball.
The Hungarian leader was also pressed on the extent to which Joe Biden’s Democrat administration has impacted the war effort, as well as the ongoing general U.S. interventionism in Europe and, in particular, Hungary, to which Orbán replied:
“I don’t like this. We have our own culture, our own way of life, don’t let them interfere, please!
“Don’t educate us, don’t tell us what’s good and what’s bad! It is not the job of Americans or people of other nations to tell Hungarians how to live. Former Republican President Donald Trump understood this well,” he added.
