\By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent reporting from Budapest, Hungary
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary’s prime minister has accused the president of neighboring war-torn Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of rejecting his proposal for a Christmas truce and a large-scale prisoners’ exchange with Russia.
Viktor Orbán spoke after the Ukrainian leader condemned his lengthy phone call of more than an hour with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day.
“At the end of the Hungarian [European Union] EU Presidency, we made new efforts for peace. We proposed a Christmas ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange,” Orbán wrote on social media platform X. “It’s sad that President Zelenskyy clearly rejected and ruled this out today. We did what we could!” he added in the remarks monitored by the Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest.
However, Zelenskyy lashed out at Orbán, who is seen as the EU’s closest ally of Putin. “We all hope that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at least won’t call [ousted Syrian President] Assad in Moscow to listen to his hour-long lectures as well,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“It’s absolutely clear that achieving real peace and guaranteed security requires America’s determination, Europe’s unity, and the unwavering commitment of all partners to the Purposes and Principles of the U.N. Charter” on international cooperation and peace, he said.
In an apparent reference to Orbán’s ambition to become Europe’s peace broker, Zelenskyy stressed that “no one should boost personal image at the expense of unity; everyone should focus on shared success.”
He added, “Unity in Europe has always been key to achieving it. There can be no discussions about the war that Russia wages against Ukraine without Ukraine.”
THANKING TRUMP
Though U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump met Orbán this week, and both are reluctant to give Ukraine military aid, Zelenskyy claimed he was “grateful” to Trump “and many European leaders with whom we are already working to find the right and strong solutions for real peace.”
The war-of-words between the Hungarian and Ukrainian leaders also followed suggestions by the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, that peace talks might begin within weeks and that Warsaw would play a role in this. “Our [EU] presidency will notably be co-responsible for what the political landscape will look like, perhaps how the situation will look during [peace] negotiations, which could begin – though there are still question marks – in the winter [in Europe] of this year,” Tusk told media.
However, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó dampened those expectations, saying Putin noted obstacles to peace talks, such as a Ukrainian law that “essentially prohibits the current presidential administration from negotiating peace.”
Hungary, which refused to provide military aid to Ukraine, “maintained its peace stance for a thousand days on achieving a sustainable peace settlement,” he said.
Szijjártó confirmed that Orban visited Trump in Florida this week after meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican as part of efforts towards forging a peace settlement.
“[We] will continue the Hungarian peace mission, seeking the fastest path to peace in order to save lives,” the minister stressed.
The two leaders also discussed ways to help stabilize Syria and the broader Middle East after Russia-backed President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow over the weekend.
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES
Hungary, he added, “was focused on the situation of Christian communities and would continue to provide them with the humanitarian support necessary.”
Orbán and Putin also discussed Russia’s energy supply to Hungary and other countries in the region.
Szijjártó complained that outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden made it hard for several Central and Southeast European countries, including Hungary, to make payments for natural gas and nuclear fuel by placing Russia’s Gazprombank under sanctions.
“Slovakia, Serbia, and Turkey also face similar challenges, and consultations with these countries were underway,” he stressed.
He said Moscow and Budapest agreed to “eliminate this problem” without elaborating, adding a solution had already been found for Russian fuel rods for Hungary’s nuclear power plant.
The talks were expected to raise eyebrows in Brussels which has questioned Hungary’s close ties with Russia despite being an EU and NATO military alliance member.
Hungary has been at odds with the EU over sanctions against Russia over its war against Ukraine, which is believed to have killed and injured up to 1 million people.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Senior European intelligence officials see little chance of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine this year, despite President Donald J. Trump’s claim that U.S.-brokered negotiations have brought a peace deal “reasonably close.”
British police raided two properties linked to former Prince Andrew on Thursday and detained the 66-year-old royal on suspicion of misconduct in public office, escalating scrutiny over his past association with the late U.S. financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab province were searching Thursday for an abducted minor girl, days after the provincial governor signed legislation raising the legal marriage age to 18 and criminalizing child marriage as a non-bailable offense.
The U.S. trade deficit edged slightly lower in 2025 but remained the third-largest on record, underscoring the scale of America’s global trade imbalance even amid sweeping tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
The United Kingdom will not allow the Pentagon to use British-controlled bases to launch potential military strikes against Iran, according to a report by The Times of London.
President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled what he called a historic new diplomatic framework — the “Board of Peace” — during an inaugural meeting at the U.S. Institute of Peace, announcing billions in pledges for Gaza reconstruction and signaling that a major decision on Iran could come within days.
President Donald Trump is weighing an initial, limited military strike on Iran aimed at forcing Tehran to meet U.S. demands for a comprehensive nuclear agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported.