Donald Trump will bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine by cutting off American funding, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said following a meeting in Florida with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
In an interview after meeting with former President Donald Trump at his estate at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach last week, President Orbán said that the current frontrunner for the White House would not give another “penny to the Ukrainian-Russian war.”
“That is why the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own feet. If the Americans don’t give money and weapons and the Europeans don’t give them, then this war is over. And if the Americans don’t give money, the Europeans alone are unable to finance this war, and then the war is over,” the Hungarian leader remarked in an interview with television presenter Tünde Volf-Nagy.
Orbán said that he had travelled to the United States to attempt to restore relations between the two countries, which he said have become strained under the Biden administration over disagreements on issues such as LGBT ideology and mass migration.
However, the Hungarian prime minister said that the chief reason for the split between the U.S. and Budapest surrounded the war in Ukraine, saying: “A pro-war administration that is now in Washington, the president is a Democrat, and they are committed to war. We are a pro-peace government, so we do not grind in a mill.”
“In contrast, President Trump was the president of peace… He ended wars in his first four years. He was the first president in a long time who did not start a war. So we know about him, we know from his functioning as president that he is a man of peace.”
“And now he doesn’t hide his opinion either, he clearly said that his goal is to create peace in the Russian-Ukrainian war. We also want nothing more than peace, a ceasefire as soon as possible, the end of this war that is slowly stretching into infinity as soon as possible. I don’t see any other person as determined and strong as Donald Trump,” Orbán added.
Mr Orbán also said that President Trump has “quite detailed plans on how to end this war” but said that he is not “authorized” to divulge the plans of the “future American president”, while only saying that “his plans coincide with the interests of Hungary.”
President Trump has consistently claimed that he would put an immediate end to the war in Ukraine, previously saying that the conflict could be over in as little as 24 hours after he is re-elected. The former president has also maintained that the war never would have happened if he was still in office.
In contrast to Trump’s consistent calls for peace negotiations, President Biden, according to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has not even spoken with him since the full-scale war broke out two years ago.
Despite admissions from figures such as former Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhny that the war has devolved into a “stalemate” and widespread recognition that the much-touted counteroffensive from Kyiv failing last year, the Biden administration is intent on doubling down with American military aid, urging Congress to back a package of $64 billion in American taxpayer dollars, on top of the $113 billion already committed.
The Hungarian prime minister also supported Donald Trump’s criticisms of the NATO military alliance, with many wealthy European nations, including France and Germany, continuously failing to live up to their defence spending obligations of 2 per cent of GDP.
“The Ukrainian-Russian war proved that you can’t be complacent now, security must be created, this has a cost, a price, and this must be paid from the Hungarian budget. It’s not an easy thing to do, but I think the Americans are right from their point of view,” Orbán said, acknowledging that his own country previously failed to meet NATO spending obligations, but has now shifted course on paying its bills.
“It must be acknowledged that the time has come for rearmament in Europe. The Americans will not pay the bills for us, the security bills. We, all of us, every European country, must do our part, financially as well. We must have our own army, our own equipment, and be able to defend our own country or contribute to common military capabilities in an alliance,” he added.
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