Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Russia has already won the conflict in Ukraine, defying the consensus among Western leaders. Delivering a speech during an interview with the Patriot YouTube channel on Tuesday, a few days ahead of US President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Orban said the war is no longer an "open-ended" struggle.
"The Ukrainians have lost the war. Russia has won," he said, and questioned when the West will accept it and at what cost. Orban, in power since 2010, is the sole European Union leader to decline signing a recent joint declaration supporting Ukraine's right to decide its future.
Orban has been a longtime friend of Putin, even following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. His administration has been unwilling to provide weapons to Kyiv due to Hungary's strong dependence on Russian energy and the threat that Ukraine's EU membership would hurt Hungarian farmers and the overall economy.
On Monday, he defied other EU leaders again by turning down the bloc's common stance. Orban described the statement as not only lacking strategic wisdom but as making Europe "ridiculous and pathetic."
Hungary's position comes as Orban's administration is struggling to recover from an inflation shock domestically, while also deflecting pressure from other European leaders for its Russia-friendly approach.
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Orban cautioned that the West, and especially Europe, lost an opportunity to deal with Putin under Joe Biden's administration, and now stands to be excluded from any eventual settlement negotiations between Washington and Moscow.
"If you are not on the negotiating table, you are on the menu," he warned, warning that Europe's future could be decided upon by decisions made without European participation.
He also condemned the EU as a bystander, stating that when United States and Russian leaders sit down to meet, Europe should not witness the spectacle of "shouting in from the outside." Rather, he maintained, the bloc should gain its own seat at the table to safeguard its strategic interests.
Orban's words are set to further polarize the EU on Ukraine, when its cohesion is perceived as vital by many countries. As the Trump-Putin summit approaches, the Hungarian prime minister's words have further complicated Europe's already sophisticated diplomatic scene.
