Ukraine deal reached only after Putin-Trump meeting

According to TASS news agency on May 17, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that an agreement to resolve the conflict in Ukraine can only be reached through a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Mr. Orban, negotiations between Russia and Ukraine alone are not enough.

In an interview with the Fakty program on TV2 on the evening of May 16, Prime Minister Orban said: “It will not work. If you hope that Russia and Ukraine will come to an agreement, it is a mistake. It will not happen. For the past three years, the agreement could have happened any day, but it never happened. I myself negotiated with them and was rejected."

In July 2024, Prime Minister Orban traveled to Kiev and Moscow on peacekeeping missions, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Vladimir Putin, respectively.

"Peace can only be achieved if President Trump continues his peace initiative. He has negotiated with Mr. Zelensky, and now it is time to sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian President. If Mr. Trump talks with the Russian President, then we will take a big step forward and can achieve peace. And without that, we will not be able to do anything," the Hungarian Prime Minister confidently said.

Mr. Orban also believes that, similar to the US, Europe should also resume dialogue with Russia. "Sooner or later, Europeans will have to negotiate with President Putin. This is inevitable. The question that Europeans have to answer is whether we want to negotiate before the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, or whether we want to negotiate only afterwards," Mr. Orban said.

According to the Hungarian Prime Minister, the EU's "locomotive" countries such as Germany and France should proactively solve this problem.

"Germany and France must show determination," Prime Minister Orban said, stressing that the current issue is to end the war on the European continent.