Orbán sees US peace plan as step toward Budapest summit
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (photo: Getty Images)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán believes publication of the US peace plan triggers key processes that could eventually lead to a peace summit in Budapest, the Hungarian government reports.
Obviously, Orbán is referring to a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Hungarian prime minister believes that after the publication of the new US peace plan, "the next 2–3 weeks will be crucial."
"Something is starting to happen. The peace summit in Budapest is getting closer," he said.
Orbán also repeated once again that it is necessary "to prevent Europe from entering the Russian-Ukrainian war."
In his view, the US plan is "not only about saving lives and stopping the waste of money on a war that cannot be won, but also about ensuring that Europe stays out of the war."
Meeting between Trump and Putin
On October 16, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced after a phone call that they intended to hold an in-person meeting within two weeks. Budapest was chosen as the potential summit venue.
The preparations for the talks were supposed to be coordinated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. However, Trump soon canceled the meeting.
According to media reports, the reason was that Russia had not changed its maximalist demands regarding the terms of ending the war in Ukraine. Trump publicly stated that he would not waste his time.
Shortly afterward, the United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's largest oil companies — Rosneft and Lukoil. At the same time, the US Treasury called on Moscow to immediately agree to a ceasefire.
Trump later said he was ready for a new meeting with Putin, but only on the condition of reaching a real agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin, in turn, confirmed that Putin was supposedly ready for negotiations, although no specific date for the summit has been set.
Recently, Trump said there was "a very good chance" of a meeting with the Russian president in Budapest.
At the same time, he noted that the Russians currently do not want to end the war against Ukraine. This, he said, is the main reason he has not yet met with Putin in Budapest.
US peace plan
American and Russian officials have developed a plan to end the war in Ukraine, consisting of 28 points.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has officially received the draft plan from the United States and plans to discuss it with US President Donald Trump in the near future.
According to media reports, their talks will take place next week.
Western media have already published the full text of the peace plan. The United States is urging Ukraine and Russia to sign it as soon as possible.
The White House acknowledged that the plan is not easy for Ukraine but said that the US believes the war must end, and that if it does not, Ukraine will likely lose even more territory.
Meanwhile, the European Union is disappointed with the US approach to resolving the war in Ukraine and with what it calls an evil peace plan, which includes concessions from Kyiv.
