Kiev can only keep fighting Russia as long as it gets American weapons, the Hungarian prime minister says
Ukrainian soldiers sit atop a personnel armoured carrier. © AFP / Anatolii Stepanov
The prospects of ending the Ukraine-Russia conflict are in the hands of the US, which is Kiev’s main backer, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
“Ukraine can only fight as long as the US supports it with money and weapons,” Orban insisted in an interview with the Magyar Nemzet newspaper on Saturday.
“If Americans want peace, there will be peace,” he stressed.
Since the conflict in Ukraine broke out in late February, Washington has provided Kiev with billions of dollars in military and financial assistance, as well as with military intelligence. Deliveries of lethal aid have included sophisticated hardware such as HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, M777 howitzers, and combat drones. It was recently announced that the Ukrainian military will also receive Patriot air-defense systems.
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Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky to the White House, and pledged: “we will stay with you for as long as it takes.”
Russia has long insisted that a “proxy war” is actually being waged against it in Ukraine by the US and NATO.
Orban was also asked how he felt about Hungary being branded “pro-Russian” in the EU over its continued economic cooperation with Russia, criticism of the bloc’s anti-Moscow sanctions, and reluctance to send arms to Kiev.
“We are pro-Hungarian. We are on the side of the Hungarians in the Russian-Ukrainian war,” the PM responded.
Budapest wants Ukraine to stay sovereign and Russia not to pose a threat to Europe, but believes that severing all economic ties with Moscow goes against the country’s interests, he explained.
