After the war ends, Ukraine should continue to exist as a “buffer state” between Russia and NATO, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban believes.
“The only viable long-term solution is for the postwar order to be based on the fundamental principle that Ukraine once again becomes a buffer state, as it once was,” he said in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
At the same time, Orban considers territorial concessions by Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, to be inevitable.
“Russia will retain the territory agreed at an international peace conference, and everything to the west of that line — up to NATO’s eastern border — will form the territory of the Ukrainian state, which will once again exist as a buffer state,” the prime minister said.
In his view, NATO and Russia should also agree “on the size and equipment of limited Ukrainian armed forces that will be allowed to operate in the buffer zone,” and both sides should “give guarantees that no one will subordinate this buffer state to their power.”
Orban noted that this is up for discussion.
“International law has the tools to create such a system of guarantees,” he said.
On November 28, Orban met Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks at the Kremlin.
It was the Hungarian prime minister’s second visit to Moscow since 2024. He is considered Putin’s closest partner among EU leaders.
Budapest said the official topic of the talks was securing cheap Russian energy supplies for the coming year.
In addition, Orban again invited Putin to take part in peace talks on Ukraine in Budapest.
“Time is on Russia’s side, not Ukraine’s”
In the interview, the head of the Hungarian government urged people to “abandon illusions and look reality in the eye,” which he said is reflected in the U.S. 28-point peace plan.
“First, time is on Russia’s side, not Ukraine’s — which means the longer peace is delayed, the more people and territory Ukraine will lose,” Orban said.
Second, he said, Russia will be reintegrated into the global economy in line with American demands.
“Sanctions will be gradually lifted, frozen assets will be used to create U.S.-Russian investment funds, and business will resume,” he noted.
As a third point, the prime minister added: “The fairy tale that Europeans will finance the war with money from Russia is over.
We have to admit to our citizens that every euro we have spent so far, and every euro we will spend in the future to support Ukraine, will be paid in full, 100 percent, by people in Europe.”
