Szijjarto said on X in an English post identical to the Facebook entry: "The road to peace leads through negotiations. War cannot be solved on the battlefield."

Orban: Budapest summit 'on the agenda'

A summit in Budapest on ending the war in Ukraine is still on the agenda, Viktor Orban said on Friday, after meeting US President Donald Trump. But it is not known when the meeting would be held, Orban added.

The prime minister said both the US and Hungarian governments were determined to continue efforts to forge peace. Hungary is offering its know-how with a view to helping end the war in Ukraine, he added.

Ukraine crisis - Trump and Putin to meet in Budapest

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Budapest, Trump announced on Thursday after consulting with Putin by phone.

On Truth Social, Trump called the meeting very productive, adding they agreed on Budapest as the location of further high-level US-Russian preparatory talks.

Orban: We're ready for planned meeting between US, Russian presidents

The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world, Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on X on Thursday. "We are ready!"

US President Donald Trump earlier announced on Truth Social he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest.

Orban: Europe must negotiate with Russia

Europe should negotiate with Russia and try to reach an agreement, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in connection with the Russia-Ukraine war at a plenary meeting of the Hungarian Standing Conference (MAERT) in Budapest.

Orban said the most pressing issue in European politics today, and the one that most affected the countries of the Carpathian Basin, was the question of war and peace. "It is more acute than it has been at any time in the past three years," he added.

He said the risk of Europe entering the conflict was greater now than at any other point since the start of the war.

Hungary’s counter-proposal, he said, was negotiation. He said Europe should negotiate independently with the Russians and not wait for a position to be "derived" from the Russian-American agreement.

Orban said that though Ukraine was a key issue of an agreement, it was not the most important issue. A new European security system should be built, arms issues should be clarified, the size of countries' armies should be determined, and a treaty should be concluded on this, he said.

He called for a system for monitoring these agreements, noting that several countries have terminated their previous arms agreements.

Meanwhile, Orban: Ukraine 'infiltrates' politics, economy

Ukraine has taken an "adversarial" position against Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday, adding that "the Ukrainians have deeply infiltrated Hungary's politics and economy."

Speaking at a plenary session of the Permanent Hungarian Conference (MAERT) in Budapest, Orban said Ukraine's "adversarial" attitude "does not leave Ukraine's ethnic Hungarian minority unaffected".

The prime minister noted that over 10 million Ukrainian nationals had fled their country, adding that "some of them on a certain assignment".

Those people could "build strong connections in all areas from the media to the economy, aimed at changing Hungary's current sovereigntist foreign policy," Orban said. He added, however, that "in a reversed situation we could do the same, if in a bit more elegant manner."

Ukraine has an interest in involving as many European countries in the war as possible, which is "a matter of life or death" for that country, Orban said, but added "we should still remain calm."

Meanwhile, Orban said the Hungarian government supported the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia with all its might, adding that ethnic Hungarians could rely on Hungary in all respects.

Orban: War stifling European economic development

The war between Russia and Ukraine is stifling and blocking European economic development, Prime Minister Viktor Orrban told a plenary session of the Hungarian Standing Conference (MAERT) in Budapest on Thursday, adding that if the war were to end, economic growth would triple within a very short time.

Orban said Ukraine's resistance on the front lines so far had been "a fantastic success and a heroic achievement", but warned that despite all this, Ukraine has lost a fifth of its territory, its economy was in ruins, and without EU funds, the Ukrainian economy could not function.

"We are paying" for Ukrainian pensions, salaries, the armed forces, and the purchase of military equipment, he said, noting that the US is selling weapons that Europe is buying for hundreds of billions of dollars and then sending to Ukraine. Orban said the result was that the European economy was stagnating due to "the atmosphere and politics of war", and "as long as there is war, it cannot begin to grow".

He added, at the same time, that if the war could be ended with peace or even a ceasefire, economic growth would "at least triple in a very short time", giving Hungary a 3 percent growth rate.

The problems and existing weaknesses of the Hungarian economy, he said, were not structural in nature, but fundamentally cyclical and related to the war. This was another strong reason why the Hungarian government must persevere with its peace policy opposing the war, he added.

MTI Stock Photo - for illustrative purposes only

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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