The European Union needs to rethink its support for Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said, as he warned Trump will ‘quit’ the war.
Speaking before a summit of EU leaders in Budapest on Friday, the right wing populist leader and close ally of Trump said that Europe cannot finance Ukraine’s war with Russia alone.
Trump has criticised his country’s level of military and financial aid to Ukraine and before the election promised to end the conflict before even taking office.
The future of Ukraine aid is among the major questions facing the EU after Trump’s win, with the region struggling to put on a united front.
‘The Americans will quit this war, first of all they will not encourage the war,’ Orban told state radio on Friday.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends a press conference at the European Political Community Summit in Budapest
Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meet at Trump Tower in New York in September
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at an informal summit of the European Council today
‘Europe cannot finance this war alone… Some still want to continue sending enormous amounts of money into this lost war but the number of those who remain silent… and those who cautiously argue that we should adjust to the new situation, is growing.’
Along with the United States, the EU and its member countries are among the biggest donors of military and financial aid to Ukraine with most leaders voicing strong support to continue on that path.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated that stance in Budapest on Friday, saying Europe also needs to beef up its own defences.
‘Russia has invaded Ukraine and is continuing this war with unchanged brutality,’ he said.
‘One question is quite clear: Together as the European Union, as Europeans, we must do what is necessary for our security. This will be particularly successful if everyone makes their contribution.’
Orban has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, followed by peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow – a call forcefully rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
‘It’s a very scary challenge for our citizens: first a ceasefire, then we’ll see. Who are you? Are your children dying?’ Zelenskiy said at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday, just minutes after Orban had restated his call.
Orban and Putin shake hands after a press conference at the residence of the prime minister office in Budapest in 2019
President Donald Trump meets with Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg in July 2017
There are fears US military aid for Ukraine will dwindle when Trump becomes president
Zelensky is adamantly against relinquishing territory to Vladimir Putin
An aerial view shows the destroyed city of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv Region, near the border with Russia, on October 2
‘A ceasefire is being proposed, for instance by a leader who is against having Ukraine in NATO. Imagine… this is nonsense and disharmony,’ Zelensky said.
Only Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico called for a change in the Ukraine strategy at a dinner of EU leaders in Budapest on Thursday evening, while others said the current strategy was working, a senior EU official said.
But leaders know they could face the prospect of the US cutting support for Ukraine under Trump and have begun discussing how they would respond in that case, officials said.
Fico, who halted state military aid to Ukraine after taking office a year ago, said Slovakia would oppose the EU taking over ‘financial responsibility’ for Ukraine if the US under Trump limited or ended its assistance.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, Fico said if the EU could find money for Ukraine than it should also have the funds to pay for the fight against illegal migration, which he called an ‘existential threat’ to the bloc.
‘I emphasized that if we are to have money for Ukraine, we must have money for problems that threaten the EU significantly more,’ he said.
Map shows what the proposed 800-mile buffer zone could look like
Keir Starmer congratulated Donald Trump in their first phone call since the Republican’s election win as he tries to repair ties
A member of Ukraine’s special police unit Hyzhak (Predator) near the frontline city of Toretsk on October 25
Ukrainian soldiers from the Liut Brigade sit in a pickup truck on their way back to the frontline in Donetsk
It comes as it was revealed yesterday that Trump may call for a 800-mile demilitarised zone between Russia and Ukraine as part of a plan to end the war the early.
The proposal, which has been outlined by three Trump staffers, would involve the zone being policed by British and European troops.
It would mean that Russia would keep its territorial gains made in Ukraine with the current border frozen in place. Kyiv would also have to assure that it would not join NATO for 20 years.
Under the plans the US would arm Ukraine in return for preventing Russia from restarting the war.
However, responsibility for manning and financing the buffer zone would fall solely on Ukraine’s European allies.
‘We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European,’ a member of Trump’s team told the Wall Street Journal.
‘We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.’