Trump meeting with Hungarian President Orbán's causes whirlwind diplomacy amid Ukraine crisis
Hungarian President Viktor Orbán is meeting with presidential candidate Donald Trump in the United States on Thursday. The politician will visit Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. The talks are informal.
3:53 PM EDT, July 11, 2024
This is another unexpected move by the Hungarian leader. As "Time" comments, this visit will likely raise concerns that the Hungarian leader is acting as a mediator between Putin and Trump.
Last week marked the beginning of a series of unusual political travels for Orbán following the Ukraine war outbreak. He visited President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, then traveled to Moscow to speak with Vladimir Putin, and later, he met with Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Trump and Putin have had an amicable relationship since the Republican leader's first term. This meeting may be related to Trump's declaration regarding his ideas for ending the war in Ukraine.
The presidential candidate said that he could convince Putin to end the war in Ukraine and release Americans detained in Russia if he were elected for a second term. He argued that it would take him just one day.
The Trump and Orbán meeting: could it mean an undesired end to the war for Ukraine?
The Hungarian politician's activity, which began at the start of July when Budapest assumed the presidency of the European Union, is embarrassing the Western community. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday on the "Face the Nation" program on CBS News that Orbán made it clear when he arrived in Moscow that he was not going there on behalf of NATO.
Under these circumstances, the Hungarian leader's talks could mean an effort to secure Ukraine's permanent loss of control over parts of its territory occupied by Russia. Orbán suggested a ceasefire to the Ukrainian authorities during his visit to Kyiv.
