Donald Trump will cut off all aid to Ukraine if he’s elected president in 2024, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed Sunday.
The right-wing autocrat had only glowing reviews of the former U.S. president after meeting with him at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.
“He will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war,” Orban said on Hungarian TV. “Therefore, the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine can not stand on its own feet.”
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“If the Americans don’t give money and weapons, along with the Europeans, then the war is over. And if the Americans don’t give money, the Europeans alone are unable to finance this war. And then the war is over,” he said.
Hungary stands apart from its western allies in its refusal to give aid to Ukraine. Orban has drawn regular criticism for his closeness to Vladimir Putin even as the war rages, and he has professed many times that Ukraine can’t win the war against a nuclear-armed Russia.
Orban said that Trump has a “very detailed plan” to bring the war to a close, but didn’t specify what that plan might be. In the past, Trump has bragged about ending the war “within 24 hours” if given the chance, without specifying just how he intends to accomplish that.
Trump is also Putin’s favorite in the 2024 contest. He’s cultivated close ties with the Russian dictator over the past eight years, and some believe his open opposition to funding Ukraine emboldened Republicans in Congress to delay aid, jeopardizing the entire war effort.
