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Orban once again blames West for war, calls for peace talks on Russian terms

• 1 min read
Orban once again blames West for war, calls for peace talks on Russian terms
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives at the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12, 2023. (Photo by Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban once again called for peace talks with Russia, repeating the Kremlin's false notion that the West is fighting Russia, using Ukrainian people as proxies.  

Orban added that Ukraine supposedly lost its sovereignty, presumably to its Western allies, and claimed that Kyiv ran out of resources to continue fighting.

His claim that the "West is fighting to the last Ukrainian soldier" has been repeated verbatim from what Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said, as he tried to paint the invasion as a Russian response to NATO provocation.  

Hungary is a member of the EU and NATO but Orban's government has been relatively receptive to Russia and hostile to Ukraine.

A scheme to send 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) from Russia to Hungary, and conceal thier whereabouts, was the latest in a series of diplomatic scandals between Kyiv and Budapest.

The Ukrainian government under President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the notion of negotiation with Russia until all of Russian troops are gone from Ukraine's sovereign soil, which includes Crimea.

Zelensky has said that he would not negotiate with Putin, only his eventual successor.

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The Kyiv Independent news desk

We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.

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