Hungary’s PM says Trump able to act as a peace-broker in Ukraine

Hungary‘s Prime Minister has said Donald Trump is ready to act ‘immediately’ as a peace broker in Ukraine if he is elected and that the EU must accept talks with Russia and China to end the war.

In a letter addressed to European Council President Charles Michel and shared with all EU leaders, PM Viktor Orban highlighted the former US Prime Minister already has ‘detailed plans’ for Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

‘I can (…) surely state that shortly after his election victory, he will not wait until his inauguration, (Trump) will be ready to act as a peace broker immediately. He has detailed and well-founded plans for this,’ Orban wrote. 

The letter was drafted after Orban held talks with presidential candidate Trump in Florida after the NATO summit last week as well as with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and China, on a self-styled ‘peace mission’ that sparked criticism among EU member states.

But following Orban’s statement, questions about the level of US support for Ukraine began to arise after Trump selected Ohio Senator JD Vance, 39, as his running mate on July 15.

Vance, announced as Trump’s pick for vice president on the first day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Wisconsin, opposed military aid and NATO membership for war-torn Ukraine.

He claimed it would be ‘completely irresponsible’ for Ukraine to join NATO and instead argued for the US to focus solely on preventing Chinese expansion, even if that means sacrificing sovereign Ukrainian lands to Russia.

‘What’s happening in Ukraine doesn’t threaten our national security,’ Vance tweeted in 2022, one day before Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Four days prior, Vance notoriously said in an interview, ‘I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.’

Yet Orban’s political director congratulated Vance on being nominated as the running mate of Republican presidential candidate, saying a ‘Trump-Vance administration sounds just right’.

‘Congratulations to @JDVance1 on being appointed by @realDonaldTrump as his running mate!’ Balazs Orban, who is not related to Viktor Orban, wrote on social media site X on Monday. 

Steve Pifer, former US Ambassador to Ukraine, however, said Trump’s choice of running mate ultimately doesn’t matter for Ukrainians, because no candidate would challenge him on Ukraine policy. 

Orban also sparked controversy after jetting to Moscow on July 5 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The talks with Putin were part of what Orban – the Kremlin’s closest EU friend – described as his peace mission over Russia’s war in Ukraine, that involved a later visit to China.

Orban’s government has gone against the European mainstream by refusing to supply Kyiv with weapons to deter Russia’s invasion and by threatening to block financial assistance to the war-ravaged country.

In an interview with Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet on Monday, Balazs Orban said that following his trip to Moscow — the first such visit from an EU head of state or government in more than two years — the prime minister had briefed the leaders of other EU countries ‘in writing about the negotiations, the experiences of the first phase of the peace mission and the Hungarian proposals.’

‘If Europe wants peace and wants to have a decisive say in settling the war and ending the bloodshed, it must now work out and implement a change of direction,’ said Balazs Orban.

Following the visits, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen ordered top EU officials to skip a series of meetings in Hungary amid ire over Orban’s Putin visit, Brussels said Monday.

A spokesman for European Commission president von der Leyen said that ‘in light of recent developments’ EU commissioners would not attend meetings organised in Hungary as part of the presidency.

‘The commission will be represented at senior civil servant level only during informal meetings,’ spokesman Eric Mamer wrote on X.

But von der Leyen accused Orban of trying to mollify the Russian leader with the trip, writing on X: ‘Appeasement will not stop Putin. Only unity and determination will pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.’ 

Other EU leaders slammed nationalist Orban for his trip to see pariah Putin in Moscow and insisted that he had been given no broader mandate for any talks. 

Orban’s critics have accused him of acting against the unity and interests of the EU and NATO, of which Hungary is a member, and of pursuing an appeasement strategy concerning Russia’s aggression.

Yet the Hungarian PM remains defiantly close with the Kremlin more than two years after Putin ordered his all-out invasion of Ukraine.

The EU has staunchly opposed Russia’s war and slapped 14 rounds of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.

But Hungary has repeatedly stalled the efforts to punish the Kremlin and to aid Ukraine in its fight against the invading forces.

On the last leg of his ‘peace mission’, Orban met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to continue his discussions for a peaceful settlement in the Russian conflict.

‘China is a key power in creating the conditions for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war,’ Orban wrote on X. 

‘This is why I came to meet with President Xi in Beijing, just two months after his official visit to Budapest.’ 

While hosting Orban, Xi called on Russia and Ukraine to cease fire and on other major powers to create an environment conducive to talks. 

Only when all major powers project ‘positive energy rather than negative energy’ can a ceasefire occur, Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

‘It is in the interests of all parties to seek a political solution through an early ceasefire,’ he added.