Orbán: West’s help to Ukraine ‘poorly assessed, flawed strategy’

The unprecedented seriousness of the situation in Ukraine is demonstrated by the fact that two nuclear superpowers are talking about using uranium munitions in Hungary’s backyard, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said in an interview to public radio.

Orbán said the US president was mulling providing Ukraine with ammunition containing uranium, and the Russian president was talking about reprisals in kind.

No resolution to the war in Ukraine can be found on the battlefield, the prime minister said in the interview recorded on Thursday. A ceasefire and peace negotiations are in Europe, Hungary and the world’s interest, he added.

The war “is getting more and more serious” and unpredictable, he said.

The bodies and leaders responsible for Hungary’s security must be constantly vigilant, he added, noting that at a meeting of the defence council, the defence minister, the chief of staff and the interior minister were handed specific tasks in the interest of the country’s security.

Though diplomatic work, he said, was also intensifying, favourable outcomes were unlikely because a “war psychosis” had gripped Europe and the consensus was that the war would be decided on the battlefield.

Hungary’s view is that the control of events must be placed in the hands of diplomacy and politicians should negotiate a ceasefire, Orbán said, adding that with a ceasefire, inflation would “return to its usual course”.

The prime minister said NATO had been “cautious so far” and its position and that of Hungary had converged. NATO, he noted, had chosen not to take part in the war and to refrain from sending weapons to Ukraine. The delivery of weapons, intelligence sharing and military support were decisions made under the authority of individual member states, he added.

Orbán called the Western strategy of supplying Ukrainian soldiers with weapons, equipment and intelligence a “poorly assessed, flawed strategy” which had ended up prolonging, deepening and broadening the war.

He also insisted that “speculators” turned up whenever there was a war and he accused the financier George Soros of being “a war speculator who hopes for financial gain at the cost of massive loss of lives”. Hungary as a supporter of peace, he added, was “on the right side” morally.

Orbán said pro-peace opinions would eventually become the majority view in the Western world.

Meanwhile, referring to Donald Trump, he said it was worrying that the former president of the United States had been indicted, adding that Trump was “the one person in the Western world today who can stop this war and establish peace”. Hungary’s interest, he added, was for someone who was pro-peace to lead the US.

On the subject of inflation, he said the government had committed itself to pushing inflation down to single digits by year-end. In addition to measures already taken, new measures would be needed, he added.

Orbán called the budget a “stable point” in an unpredictable environment, adding that in times of war, “a defence budget” was needed that protected support for families and pensioners, utility subsidies and jobs while guaranteeing the country’s security.

He also urged Hungarians to keep their savings in state bonds. “In times of war, people who keep their savings in government bonds and treasury bills help the country.” Also, they received a higher interest rate than by keeping their money in the bank, he said. In addition to offering high interest on government bonds, bank savings will be taxed as long as the war lasts as a temporary measure, he said.