BREAKING – Trump calls Orbán his friend and says he would end Russian oil purchases if asked

American President Donald Trump has previously insisted that all NATO members should cease buying Russian oil, arguing that the revenues fuel Putin’s war machine. Today, during a bilateral press conference with President Zelensky, Trump spoke about how he might persuade Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to halt Russian oil imports. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó responded to Trump’s remarks in a Facebook post just minutes ago.

According to the CNN, when asked by a journalist, Trump stated that if he personally intervened, PM Orbán would stop buying Russian oil. However, he did not mention how much extra revenue Hungary gains due to the Brent/Ural price split, which some estimates suggest could exceed one billion US dollars.

• Trump administration issues strong warning to PM Orbán over lucrative Russian deal

“He is a friend of mine. I haven’t spoken to him, but I have a feeling if I did, he might stop. And I think I’ll be doing that,” Trump said.

[Q]: Mr President, Orbán is refusing to stop buying Russian oil.

[President Trump]:
Well, he’s a friend of mine. I haven’t spoken to him.
But I have a feeling if I did, he might stop. And I think I’ll be doing that. https://t.co/aBV2pYPEx9 pic.twitter.com/ycEq9qBVjL— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) 23 September 2025

The Trump administration has indicated that new, “major” sanctions on Russia will only be pursued once all NATO member states agree to end their purchases of Russian oil.

FM Péter Szijjártó responded on President Trump’s remarks in a short Facebook post. He wrote that the Hungarian government supported Trump’s peace efforts, but cannot change the geographical reality derived from Hungary’s position on the map.

Trump says Ukraine war makes Russia look ‘bad’

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the prolonged Ukraine war is damaging Russia’s image and accused China and India of funding the conflict by buying Russian oil, the Turkish Anadolu News Agency wrote.

• While Hungary pushes for peace, we buy more oil from Russia than ever

“Everyone thought Russia would win this war in three days, but it didn’t work out that way. It’s not making Russia look good. It’s making them look bad,” Trump said in his address to the annual UN General Assembly.

The US leader said the war was “supposed to be just a quick little skirmish” but has continued for 3 1/2 years, asking: “How many more lives will be needlessly lost on both sides?”

• Click for more news concerning the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Oil purchases under fire

Trump criticized major economies for continuing energy trade with Russia. “China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil,” he said. He also faulted NATO countries, saying: “Even NATO countries haven’t cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products … They’re funding the war against themselves.”

The US president called the situation “embarrassing,” adding: “They’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they are fighting Russia.” He threatened new sanctions on Russia, which “would stop the bloodshed … very quickly” if it refuses to end the war, but conditioned their success on support from European countries.

“For those tariffs to be effective, European nations, all of you (who) are gathered here right now, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures,” he said.

Trump says Ukraine ‘doing a very good job’ on the battlefield against Russia

US President Donald Trump gave an unusually upbeat assessment of Ukraine’s battlefield performance Tuesday, saying as he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Kyiv’s forces have far surpassed expectations, Anadolu wrote.

“Ukraine is doing a very good job of stopping this very large army. It’s pretty amazing. You know, this is a war that should have ended in three days, four days,” Trump said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, reflecting conventional wisdom from the start of the war in February 2022.

“People said it was going to be very quick, and you got to hand it to the Ukrainian soldiers, and everybody involved, it’s still going on. And that’s not a good thing for Russia. This was supposed to be quick. And so Russia doesn’t look very distinguished, having taken three-and-a-half years of very hard fighting, and it looks like it’s not going to end for a long time,” he added.

“We have good news,” Zelenskyy said

For his part, Zelenskyy thanked his US counterpart for his personal effort to try and end the ongoing war, saying he would brief Trump on the situation in the battlefield.

“We have good news,” Zelenskyy said, claiming that Ukrainian troops retook control of 360 square kilometers (139 square miles) in the country, as well as encircled 1,000 Russian soldiers and that they want to do an exchange. He further reaffirmed Ukraine’s demand for further pressure and sanctions on Moscow.

Russian drone incidents in Eastern and Northern Europe

Asked about recent unidentified drone sightings that caused two temporary airport closures in Denmark, Trump said he would have no response “until I find out exactly what happened.”

“They don’t know what happened, but we’re going to find out very soon,” he said. The drone sightings followed a series of recent airspace violations in Europe.

On 10 September, a suspected Russian drone strike hit Polish territory, prompting NATO to deploy fighter jets. Similar accusations were subsequently made by Romania and Estonia, and denied by Russia.