(MENAFN) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has asserted that Russia has already won the war in Ukraine, urging Western nations to recognize the outcome. Speaking to the ‘Patriot’ YouTube channel on Tuesday, Orban also dismissed the latest EU statement supporting Ukraine, calling it “ridiculous and pathetic.”

Orban argued that external actors should not interfere when leaders negotiate directly, stating, “If you are not at the negotiating table, you are on the menu.” He claimed that Kiev’s allies remain in denial about Russia’s victory, stressing that the conflict is no longer open-ended and that the only unresolved issue is when and how the West will accept the reality.

Hungary, a member of both the EU and NATO, has consistently opposed Brussels’ policies on the Ukraine conflict, including arms supplies to Kiev and sanctions on Russia. Budapest has also resisted Ukraine’s potential membership in either bloc. Relations with Kiev have worsened amid tensions over Hungary’s ethnic minority in Western Ukraine, with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto recently stating that Ukraine “has no place in the EU” and “doesn’t even belong among civilized nations,” referencing the death of an ethnic Hungarian allegedly at the hands of Ukrainian draft officers.

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