Republican candidate Donald Trump will not give money to help Ukraine fight Russia if he wins the presidency again and that could hasten the end of the war, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after meeting him.
Nationalist Prime Minister Orbán, who backs his former ally’s bid to return to the White House, met Trump in Florida on Friday.
“He will not give a single cent to the war between Ukraine and Russia and therefore the war will end,” Orbán told state television late on Sunday. “It is clear that Ukraine alone cannot stand.”
“If the Americans do not give money and weapons, and also the Europeans, then this war will be over. And if the Americans do not give money, the Europeans will not be able to finance this war on their own, and then the war will end,” he said.
Orbán has refused to send weapons to Kyiv and has maintained close economic ties with Moscow since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022. He last met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in October in China, despite efforts by the European Union for isolating Moscow.
Orbán said that “another question” will be how to close the war with peace talks after a truce, and how a stable and secure Europe will be created, but first peace must be achieved and “he (Trump) has the means to do that.” “. “
A statement from Trump’s campaign did not mention Ukraine, saying the two discussed issues affecting both nations, including their respective border security.
The Kremlin, for its part, said this Monday that they had heard Orbán’s statements, but that they had nothing to add. “We have seen it, but we have nothing to say, since no details are given and it is not clear what kind of plan it could be,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters. “Therefore, it is not possible to say anything specific at this time,” he concluded.
European leaders have long worried that another Trump presidency would mean a decline in U.S. support for both Ukraine and the NATO transatlantic military alliance.