Orbán has no leverage over Putin – Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has once again criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for attempts at mediation, stressing that he has no leverage over Russia.

Source: Zelenskyy at a meeting of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on Tuesday, 17 December, European Pravda reports, citing Interfax-Ukraine

Details: Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine is a strong country and has shown this on the battlefield against Putin's aggression.

Quote: "Who else in Europe has such experience? No one. Does Orbán have such an army? No. How would he put pressure on Putin? With a joke, a smile? He can keep it," he added.

Zelenskyy separately noted that Ukraine needs direct relations with the United States without intermediaries.

Quote: "Prime Minister Orbán, who wants to [achieve peace for Ukraine], you know, ‘somehow, somewhere…’ will not work. I won't let him or people like him handle this," the president added, stressing that he was talking about the Hungarian prime minister, not the Hungarian people who support Ukraine.

Background:

• Tensions between Kyiv and Budapest escalated after Viktor Orbán called Vladimir Putin last week.
• Afterwards, Orbán said that he had offered Ukraine a ceasefire and a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war for Christmas, but President Zelenskyy allegedly rejected the idea.
• Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Kyiv had refused to take part in a telephone conversation between Orbán and Zelenskyy regarding the Hungarian "truce" proposal, and was outraged that almost no one in the EU supported the "Christmas truce".

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