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Trump has consulted Hungary's Orban on Ukraine war, sources tell RFE/RL

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Trump has consulted Hungary's Orban on Ukraine war, sources tell RFE/RL
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban attends a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council during the NATO 75th anniversary summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, on July 11, 2024. Orban will meet Donald Trump after a NATO summit in Washington, sources close to the former US president's campaign said. The sit-down in Florida is likely to upset Budapest's allies further after Orban drew widespread ire from European counterparts for meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Drew Angerer /AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly held multiple phone conversations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban since Nov. 5, sources speaking to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) Hungarian Service acknowledged.

Hungarian government insiders revealed that Trump sought Orban’s opinion on strategies to end the Ukraine war.

During his campaign, Trump criticized the billions of dollars the U.S. has allocated to Ukraine and claimed he could end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House. Observers interpret his remarks as implying that Ukraine might need to cede territory currently under Russian control.

Orban, known for his close ties with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump, has openly criticized EU aid for Ukraine and obstructed sanctions against Moscow.

Reports indicate Orban is preparing for a second peace mission in December, which aims to conclude Hungary’s rotating EU presidency.

In July, he initiated his first mission with a trip to Kyiv carrying a cease-fire proposal for President Volodymyr Zelensky, followed by a controversial meeting with Putin in Moscow. Orban later traveled to China and then the U.S. to meet Trump while he was campaigning.

Sources noted to RFE/RL that the December peace mission may involve Orban delivering messages from Trump to Zelensky, Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the specific details of the plan remain unclear.

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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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