Orbán: Zelensky's plan “terrifying”

Published 18 October 2024 at 06.27

Foreign. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expresses deep concern over Volodymyr Zelenskyi's recently revealed “victory plan” for the war against Russia. In a post on Facebook, Orbán calls the plan “horrifying” and criticizes both Ukraine's strategy and the EU's support for the war.

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Zelensky's plan, which he recently presented to the Ukrainian parliament, include immediate NATO membership for Ukraine, the lifting of restrictions on using Western long-range weapons against Russian territory, and the deployment of a “comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence plan” on Ukrainian soil.

Orbán believes that the EU's strategy in the conflict has been poorly organized and implemented, which, according to him, has led to the war being lost.

“We are losing this war, so the strategy is not working. It is necessary a change,” he writes, emphasizing the need to move from a war strategy to a peace strategy with a focus on ceasefires and peace talks.

During a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, Orbán plans to call on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron to start negotiating with Russia as soon as possible on behalf of the EU.

Zelensky, who is also visiting Brussels to discuss his “victory plan” with EU leaders, states that the plan aims to strengthen Ukraine to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict. He emphasizes that the success of the plan does not depend on Russia, but on Ukraine's Western allies.

However, the Russian government has dismissed the plan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claims that Zelensky's proposal is rather a plan to prolong the conflict, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zacharova calls the plan “a collection of incoherent slogans”.