After the European Council meeting on the Alaska summit, Viktor Orbán argued that Brussels’ Ukraine strategy had collapsed—its isolation policy, battlefield expectations, and membership promises as security guarantee all failed. With Trump’s team eyeing Budapest as the venue for a potential Putin–Zelenskyy summit, Hungary’s influence in Europe could be significantly bolstered.
Alaska hosted more than a summit last Friday—it staged the funeral of the liberal order. Trump and Putin’s display of power buried the post-Cold War consensus, sidelined Europe, and offered Russia a new role in an emerging world order no longer defined by Western institutions.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó spoke with both Washington and Moscow after the Trump–Putin summit in Alaska, stressing Hungary’s consistent call for peace. As the only EU state briefed by both sides, Budapest now holds a unique insight into Russia’s real intentions regarding a potential ceasefire agreement.
‘Closing the press conference, President Putin addressed Donald Trump in English and invited the American leader to meet “next time in Moscow”. It is an extremely rare occasion to hear the Russian President speaking in English.’
Following their Alaska meeting, Trump and Putin said they had reached an agreement to be presented to Ukraine and NATO. Putin called it a step toward securing Ukraine’s safety, while Trump admitted significant points still need to be negotiated.
Trump and Putin’s Alaska summit aims to test the waters for a Ukraine ceasefire, with Russia pressing its advantage after fresh territorial gains. The US holds secondary tariff threats over Moscow, while the EU and Kyiv fight to keep their voice in any deal.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary could cause Ukraine’s collapse within a day by cutting energy supplies but has no intention of doing so. He declared ‘Ukraine has lost the war, Russia has won,’ adding that only Western aid is delaying the inevitable.
‘Bismarck’s campaign for a “good treaty” with Russia reflected the notion that antagonizing the Russians could be as disastrous as waking a bear from hibernation—an apt metaphor for what the U.S.–NATO expansionist approach eventually did…Bismarck emphasized the urgency of not only respecting Russia’s interests but also recognizing it as a crucial player on the global political stage…’
European leaders’ obsession with the Munich analogy ahead of the Trump–Putin summit is turning history into a political crutch. Leaders warn of appeasement, yet ignore the radically different context of today’s war, risking self-imposed irrelevance in peace talks and handing strategic advantage to Washington and Moscow.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vetoed an EU joint statement on the upcoming Trump–Putin summit in Alaska, breaking with the bloc’s 26 other members. While they welcomed Trump’s peace efforts, Orbán argued the EU should not set conditions for talks it was not invited to, urging instead an EU–Russia summit to ensure Europe’s voice in the process.