Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, one day before an EU summit aimed at cementing joint action on support for Ukraine.
Orban’s announcement comes after US President Donald Trump ordered a suspension of US military aid deliveries to Kyiv, which strengthened fears in Ukraine and in many European capitals that America was pivoting away from its allies and toward Moscow.
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Orban – one of Trump’s and Moscow’s closest allies in the European Union – said a “transatlantic rift” over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became apparent over the recent days.
“I’m meeting tomorrow in Paris with the president of France,” the nationalist leader told a media briefing on Tuesday, signaling that the war in Ukraine would be discussed.
“There is a clear strategic difference, which the US presidential election has made unbridgeable... Some want war and some want peace,” Orban said, seeming to indicate that those who were on the side of wanting war were those providing Ukrainians with weapons to defend themselves against Russia’s surprise invasion.
“This is the challenge we will have to face on Thursday. For me, even on Wednesday,” he said.
He accused European leaders, who met in London over the weekend to rally around Kyiv, of having decided “that the war in Ukraine must continue.”
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Following the crisis summit on Sunday, which Hungary was not invited to, Macron said France and Britain proposed a one-month truce “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” although not, initially at least, covering ground fighting.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday presented a five-part plan to mobilize some €800 billion for Europe’s defense – and help provide “immediate” military support for Ukraine.
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