Trump and Putin

Hungary’s far-right nationalist leader Viktor Orbán has praised President Trump’s announcement that he will hold a second summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in ukrainein Budapest, the Hungarian capital, as “great news for the peace-loving people of the world.”

Orbán is one of the few European leaders who has maintained close ties with Putin since Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

He is also a key Trump ally, having built a close relationship with the president over many years, helping him become a favorite European figure on the American right.

“The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world. We are ready!” Orbán, whom the European Union has accused of turning Hungary into an autocracy, said in a social media post on Thursday. “Preparations for the US-Russia peace summit are underway. Hungary is the island of PEACE!”

Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday following a lengthy phone call he had with Russia’s leader on Thursday. “I think great progress was made,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social about his conversation with Putin.

The Kremlin said in a statement on Friday that Orbán had spoken to Putin by phone to express Hungary’s “readiness to provide conditions” for the upcoming summit.

The date of the Trump-Putin summit in Budapest has not been confirmed, although Trump said on Thursday that it would likely take place within a couple of weeks.

It will be the two leaders’ second bilateral meeting this year, following in-person talks in Alaska in August.

That initial effort by Trump to end the Ukraine war produced no tangible results. Putin has so far rejected the president’s insistence on holding a tripartite meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Meanwhile, the Russian military has continued its aerial bombing of Ukrainian cities, attacking infrastructure and killing civilians.

Before his announcement Thursday, President Trump had expressed growing frustration with Putin’s intransigence in negotiating an end to the war.

“I don’t know why he continues this war,” Trump told reporters earlier this week in Washington. “He just doesn’t want to end that war.”

The Kremlin, in a statement Thursday attributed to Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov, said the Russian leader had given Trump during their phone call “a detailed assessment of the current situation,” which included noting that on the terrain in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, “the Russian Armed Forces have full strategic initiative along the entire line of contact.”

Why Ukraine may be disappointed by Hungary hosting the summit

Orbán’s government has often taken an adversarial stance toward Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian cause since Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago.

While Hungary is a member of both the European Union and the US-led NATO alliance, Orbán has been a fierce critic of Europe’s financial and military support for Ukraine’s efforts to repel the Russian invasion. Hungary has suspended all arms sales to Ukraine since the war began, and Orbán’s government has also banned weapons from Ukraine’s Western partners from transiting through the country.

Earlier this week, Orbán posted a promotional video on social media declaring that “Hungary will follow its own path, protect its sovereignty, refuse to send its money to Ukraine and remain a haven of peace. We will not pay for wars that are not ours!”

Tension between Orbán and Zelenskyy has increased dramatically in recent months.

Budapest has fiercely opposed Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union, a move kyiv sees as a vital step to guard against the potential threat of future Russian aggression.

Under EU rules, new states can only be admitted with the unanimous consent of all existing members.

“Hungary has no moral obligation to support Ukraine’s accession to the EU. No country has ever blackmailed its entry into the European Union, and it will not happen this time either,” Orbán said earlier this month. “The EU Treaty leaves no room for ambiguity: membership is decided by the Member States unanimously.”

Zelenskyy was quoted in May by the Ukrainian news agency Interfax as calling Hungary’s opposition to Ukraine’s EU candidacy “dangerous” for the EU, “because it is another country’s sovereign choice. Just as we have no right to interfere in Hungary’s affairs.”

kyiv also accused Hungary of illegally introducing drones into Ukrainian territory. In September, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on social media a map of an alleged Hungarian drone incursion with the caption: “Our Armed Forces have gathered all the necessary evidence and we are still waiting for Hungary to explain what this object did in our airspace.”

Orbán appeared to acknowledge the incursion late last month in an interview on a podcast produced by his far-right Fidesz party, while questioning Ukraine’s independence, echoing a talking point often promoted by the Kremlin.

“Suppose they flew a few meters there [Ukraine]”So what?” Orbán said, according to the Reuters news agency. “Ukraine is not an independent country. Ukraine is not a sovereign country. “Ukraine is financed by us, the West gives it funds and weapons.”

Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said in a social media post that Orbán’s comments showed he was “intoxicated by Russian propaganda.”

While Hungary has participated in imposing several rounds of EU sanctions against Russia since the war began, Orbán has consistently called for greater economic relief for the Kremlin.

“It’s time to talk about sanctions! Did they end the war? No. Did they paralyze the [Russian] economy? No. Did Europe manage to replace Russian energy with other affordable sources? No,” Orbán said in January. “The sanctions designed by Brussels bureaucrats achieved one thing: they destroyed the competitiveness of the European economy.”

Budapest has defied efforts by other EU nations to wean themselves from years of dependence on Russian oil and gas, despite repeated calls from both Trump and Zelenskyy to do so to squeeze Putin’s ability to finance the war.

Research by the Center for the Study of Democracy, an independent policy think tank, shows that Hungary has actually increased its dependence on Russian energy over the past three years. Hungary’s purchases of Russian crude oil increased from 61% of its total imports before the invasion to 86% in 2024, according to the study.

Orban is a key ally of Trump

While Hungary is not perceived as a friend of Ukraine, President Trump will receive a warm welcome in Budapest if the summit goes ahead.

Orbán was the first and only EU leader to publicly back Trump’s first successful bid for the US presidency in 2016, and the two have maintained close ties since then.

Orbán, who Human Rights Watch says has used his party’s supermajority in the Hungarian parliament to undermine the independence of the country’s judiciary, repress independent media, demonize immigrants, and discriminate against LGBTQ people, was also effusive in praising Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.

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“The Trump tsunami devastated the entire world,” Orbán said earlier this year. “This brought hope back to the world. We no longer suffocate in the waking sea.”

In 2022, the EU said Hungary under Orbán’s leadership could no longer be considered a “full democracy”, calling it a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”.

Trump has also prolifically praised Orbán’s strongman leadership, calling him “a great man and a very special person.”