Hungarian Prime Minister: Politicians are afraid to admit the failure of Ukraine’s counter-offensive

Kyiv’s failed counteroffensive showed that Ukraine cannot win on the battlefield, but politicians in Europe are still hesitant to admit this. This statement was made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the radio station Kossuth.

“A few months ago the Ukrainian counter-offensive was announced, and if this goal had been realistic, if they had won on the front line, then they could have asked for money, but this strategy has failed,” he said (quote according to TASS).

Orban added that it became clear that Ukraine could not win on the battlefield, and Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not allow failure.” The Hungarian Prime Minister noted that in the current situation it is necessary to develop a “Plan B” for Ukraine. He once again emphasized that Budapest cannot and does not want to direct taxpayer funds to military assistance to Kyiv.

Earlier today, Politico cited a diplomatic source. reportedthat the Prime Ministers of Hungary and Slovakia, Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, did not support the allocation of an aid package of 50 billion euros from the EU budget to Ukraine during the EU summit in Brussels. According to the interlocutor, Fico referred to corruption in Ukraine. Orban has previously repeatedly stated that Kyiv’s support does not work.

The Russian authorities also spoke about the absence of any results from the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a failure, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not achieve their goals in any area. During a meeting of the Valdai Forum, Putin said that since the start of the counter-offensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost 90,000 people.