Hungarian PM Orban Says Ukraine Will Not Win The War With Russia

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban. (Wikimedia Commons/Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union /Julyen Nizet)

JAKARTA - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday Ukraine would not win a war with Russia on the battlefield, adding dialogue and a ceasefire was needed to save lives.

Speaking at a briefing in Strasbourg, France, PM Orban said the Republican candidate for president of the United States from Donald Trump, if elected, would not wait until his inauguration, but would begin seeking peace in Ukraine right after the November 5 elections, adding European leaders should react to it.

PM Orban also said direct and indirect communication was needed between the warring parties, which is part of international politics that third parties mediate between them.

"We don't want to get in the way of anything, we just want to convince European leaders to change their strategy (regarding Ukraine) because the current strategy is not working," said PM Orban.

Earlier, days after Hungary took over the post of president of the European Union in July, PM Orban began its own peace mission which included visits to Moscow and Kyiv and met Trump, a move that sparked a strong reaction from European leaders.

On the same occasion, PM Orban also said his country wanted normal economic relations with Russia in areas that were not affected by sanctions.

Hungary is known to rely heavily on Russian crude and gas imports, and Russia's Rosatom is also building a nuclear power plant in Hungary.

"We are transparent, we are doing what we say. And we think in areas where there are no sanctions between the European Union and Russia, of course we want to have normal economic relations with Russia," PM Orban said, accusing several Western counterparts of being "municative", citing how much oil and gas they have purchased from Russia, without naming the country.