Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban flew direct from the NATO summit in Washington, DC, late Thursday night to meet with former President Donald Trump at his Florida compound Mar-a-Lago.
The pair convened at Trump’s beachside facility and shared a photo of the moment on social media. The caption said: “We discussed ways to make peace. The good news of the day: he’s going to solve it!”
On his own Truth Social media site, Trump posted: “Thank you Viktor. There must be PEACE, and quickly.”
The Hungarian leader has openly endorsed Trump’s candidacy in this year’s presidential election, and expressed hopes the Republican will be able to bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine through diplomacy as opposed to further bloodshed.
The European Union’s longest-serving leader has long held close ties to Trump and other conservative Republicans, and expressed his belief a new Trump presidency remains the “only serious chance” for an end to the war in Ukraine.
For his part, Trump has repeatedly said he could settle the war “in 24 hours” if he’s elected president again by meeting with both Putin and Zelensky, also declaring the Russian leader would never have invaded Ukraine if he had remained in the White house, as Breitbart News reported.
AFP reports White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday moved quickly to claim a Trump-Orban meeting would run counter to Ukraine’s interests, saying, “The U.S. position — the Biden administration position — is nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
“Whatever adventurism that is being undertaken without Ukraine’s consent or support, you know, is not something that’s consistent with our policy, the foreign policy of the United States,” Sullivan told reporters, adding that he “can’t speculate as to what Orban is up to exactly.”
