EU ready to discuss ‘some peacekeeping missions’ in Ukraine, says Hungary’s Orban
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The members of the European Union are now close to discussing the deployment of “some peacekeeping missions” in Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Hungarian national radio station Kossuth Rádió on March 31.
Orbán advocated a “ceasefire” in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, saying he believes that “the world is more on Hungary’s side, but we’re in the minority in Europe when it comes to peace.”
He did not say which EU members were close to discussing the deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine.
The Hungarian prime minister noted that the aims of the European Union are “questionable, as it cannot guarantee either peace or prosperity,” Budapest “can be drawn into the war,” and Kyiv receives “more and more heavy weapons.”
“Now we’re close to the fact that it becomes legitimate for European leaders to send some peacekeeping forces to the front,” Orbán said.
“If this continues, we may end up with World War III.”
The official reiterated that the Hungarian parliament is expected to pass are solution today calling for peace and “immediate ceasefire.
”According to Orbán, Budapest’s position is not about what kind of peace treaty should be concluded, “but about a ceasefire, followed by thinking about the limits of negotiations.”
The Kremlin, whose army has suffered a severe mauling over a year of fighting in Ukraine, is anxious to achieve a ceasefire in order to try to “freeze” the conflict in Ukraine and hold on to the territory of Ukraine it has seized, experts in Ukraine and abroad say.
The Ukrainian government’s position, as articulated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is that peace – or more accurately surrender – negotiations should be started with Russia only when the invader has been decisively defeated on the battlefield and Ukraine has liberated all of its internationally recognized territory, including Crimea, which has been under Russian military occupation since 2014.
In the parts of Ukraine that have already been liberated by Ukrainian forces, evidence of atrocities and possible cases of genocide have been discovered. Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court on March 17 issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for the abduction of children from Ukraine.
Earlier, Hungarian diplomats stated they were working on a possible visit by Orbán to Kyiv.
At the same time, Hungary has advocated dialogue with Russia, while Orbán himself has repeatedly made controversial statements against Ukraine and refused to hand over weapons to Kyiv or let them pass through the territory of Hungary.
The Hungarian prime minister is one of the few EU leaders not to have visited Ukraine during the time of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
Hungarian President Katalin Novák visited Kyiv on Nov. 26, 2022. However, the Hungarian presidency is largely a ceremonial one.
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