The only question now is when the Western backers of Kiev will admit the defeat, the Hungarian PM has said

Russia has already won the Ukraine conflict, and it's now up to the West to acknowledge this outcome, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

Orban made the remarks on Tuesday shortly after he snubbed the latest joint EU statement in support of Ukraine issued ahead of the upcoming meeting between US President Donald and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin scheduled for Friday. Speaking to the 'Patriot' YouTube channel, the PM said he partly opposed the statement as it only made the European Union look "ridiculous and pathetic."

"When two leaders sit down to negotiate with each other, the Americans and the Russians ... and you're not invited there, you don't rush for the phone, you don't run around, you don't shout in from the outside," Orban stated, adding that "if you are not at the negotiating table, you are on the menu."

Moscow has already won the conflict against Ukraine, the Hungarian leader noted, adding that Kiev's backers are still treating the battlefield situation as if it were "open-ended" instead of acknowledging this reality.

"We are talking now as if this were an open-ended war situation, but it is not. The Ukrainians have lost the war. Russia has won this war," he stressed. "The only question is when and under what circumstances will the West, who are behind the Ukrainians, admit that this has happened, and what will result from all this."

A member of both the EU and NATO, Hungary has consistently opposed Brussels' policies on the Ukraine conflict since its escalation in February of 2022, particularly with respect to supplying Kiev with weapons and imposing sanctions on Russia. Budapest has also opposed the idea of Kiev joining either of the blocs.

The ties between Budapest and Kiev have been further soured by tensions around the Hungarian ethnic minority in Western Ukraine. Last week, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Kiev has no place in the EU and "doesn't even belong among civilized nations," citing a recent death of an ethnic Hungarian at the hands of Kiev's draft officers.

(RT.com)