Orbán rejects EU's Ukraine statement, calls for EU–Russia summit instead

Firstly, according to him, the statement attempted to set conditions for a meeting to which the EU leaders were not even invited.

Secondly, he believes that the very fact of the EU’s absence from this summit is “sad,” and giving advice or demands in such a situation will only make matters worse.

"The fact that the EU was left on the sidelines is sad enough as it is. The only thing that could make things worse is if we started providing instructions from the bench," Orbán said.

He believes that instead of commenting on negotiations between the US and Russia, EU leaders should initiate their own summit with the Russian Federation.

"The only sensible action for EU leaders is to initiate an EU-Russia summit, based on the example of the US-Russia meeting. Let’s give peace a chance!" wrote the Hungarian prime minister.

On the eve of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska, 26 EU countries supported a joint statement in support of Ukraine, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to sign it.

Trump–Putin meeting

US President Donald Trump will meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on August 15. The summit will take place in Alaska. On the eve of this, Trump announced that he was allegedly going to Russia for a meeting with Putin. Later, it turned out that this was a slip of the tongue.

The US president suggested that a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine would likely require "some land swapping." However, Trump said he would try to return to Ukraine part of the occupied territories.

Read more about what to expect from the meeting between Trump and Putin in the RBC-Ukraine material.