Orban: Ukraine Has ‘No Chance’ of Beating Russia
Wyatt Reed
Mainstream media is vilifying Hungary’s popular president once again after he explained why he declined to authorize another half billion in weapons for the Kiev regime.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is facing more pushback from Western media after pointing out that Ukraine has “no chance” of beating Russia while rejecting the latest attempt by Brussels to send more weapons to Ukraine.
In an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, Orban told a US business journal “it’s obvious that the battlefield solution does not work,” before explaining why the Zelensky regime has proven unable to achieve military victory over Russian forces.
“Looking at the reality, looking at the figures, looking at the surroundings, looking at the fact that NATO is not ready to send troops, it’s obvious that there is no victory for poor Ukrainians on the battlefield,” he said, adding, “that’s my position.”
Last week, Hungary blocked the European Union from allocating the eighth €500 million package from the so-called “European Peace Fund” to pay for the weapons that EU member states have been sending to the conflict zone.
Orban expressed sympathy for Ukrainians but insisted that if the goal is to “save lives,” Western governments are going about things backwards.
“Emotionally it’s tragic, all of our hearts are with the Ukrainians,” but “talking as a politician who should save lives… there’s no chance to win this war,” he noted.
The veteran Hungarian leader pointed out the ongoing hostilities stem from a “failure of diplomacy.”
Rather than pursuing a strategy of ramping up tensions, Orban urged an immediate ceasefire instead.
“Escalation should be stopped and we should argue in favor of peace and negotiations,” Orban told the outlet. “As a state, Ukraine is of course very important but in the longer term, strategically thinking, what is at stake is the future security of Europe.”
But, like it or not, security in Europe can only be assured with Moscow’s buy-in, he explained.
“It is obvious that without the United States there is no security architecture for Europe. And this war cannot be stopped… unless the Russians can make an agreement with the United States,” Orban noted. “As a European, I am not happy with that, but it is the only way out.”
Orban has previously offered especially harsh criticisms of the European Union’s aggressively anti-Russian policies, but this may be his starkest warning yet, and it’s already being greeted with alarm in Kiev.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry denounced the comments as an attempt to absolve Russia of what it labeled Moscow’s “responsibility for its aggression.”
The US government’s junior partners in Berlin weren’t far behind, either. “I’m disappointed, or rather irritated, by the behavior of our Hungarian friends,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters in Brussels.
Orban has defended his strategy of neutrality by pointing out that, with 85% of Hungarian exports destined for other EU member states, the country can’t simply leave the bloc. Likewise, with Budapest getting half of its energy needs met by Moscow, it can’t simply abandon its economic ties to Russia, he says.
