The European Union needs to rethink its support for Ukraine following Donald Trump’s US election victory, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said before a summit of EU leaders on Friday, adding that Europe cannot finance the war alone.
Mr Trump has criticised the level of US support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion and before the election promised to end the conflict before even taking office, without explaining how.
The future of aid for Ukraine is among major questions facing the EU after Mr Trump’s win, with the region struggling to put on a united front and its two biggest powers, Germany – whose government just fell apart – and France, politically weakened.
“The Americans will quit this war, first of all they will not encourage the war,” Mr Orban, a close Trump ally, told state radio on Friday in advance of the informal EU summit he is hosting in the Hungarian capital.
“Europe cannot finance this war alone... Some still want to continue sending enormous amounts of money into this lost war but the number of those who remain silent... and those who cautiously argue that we should adjust to the new situation, is growing.”
Along with the United States, the EU and its member countries are among the biggest donors of military and financial aid to Ukraine and most EU leaders have voiced strong support for continuing on that path.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated that stance in Budapest on Friday, saying Europe also needs to beef up its own defences. “Russia has invaded Ukraine and is continuing this war with unchanged brutality,” he said.
“One question is quite clear: Together as the European Union, as Europeans, we must do what is necessary for our security. This will be particularly successful if everyone makes their contribution.”
Mr Orban has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, followed by peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow – a call forcefully rejected by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“It’s a very scary challenge for our citizens: first a ceasefire, then we’ll see. Who are you? Are your children dying?” Mr Zelenskiy said at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday, just minutes after Mr Orban had restated his call.
“A ceasefire is being proposed, for instance by a leader who is against having Ukraine in Nato. Imagine... this is nonsense and disharmony,” Mr Zelenskiy said.
Only Mr Orban and Slovak prime minister Robert Fico called for a change in the Ukraine strategy at a dinner of EU leaders in Budapest on Thursday evening, while others said the current strategy was working, a senior EU official said.
But leaders know they could face the prospect of the US cutting support for Ukraine under Mr Trump and have begun discussing how they would respond in that case, officials say.
Mr Fico, who halted state military aid to Ukraine after taking office a year ago, said Slovakia would oppose the EU taking over “financial responsibility” for Ukraine if the US under Mr Trump limited or ended its assistance.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, Mr Fico said if the EU could find money for Ukraine than it should also have the funds to pay for the fight against illegal migration, which he called an “existential threat” to the bloc.
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“I emphasised that if we are to have money for Ukraine, we must have money for problems that threaten the EU significantly more,” he said.
It comes as Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing one civilian and wounding more than 30 people in the centre, south, and northeast, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.
The Russian forces launched 92 drones and five missiles at 12 Ukrainian regions, the Ukrainian air force said.
Sixty-two drones and four missiles were downed, it said, and 26 drones were “lost”, most likely meaning they had been thwarted electronically.
The ministry for interior affairs said one person had been killed in the Odesa region, where civilian infrastructure and homes were damaged and nine people were injured.
Four people were wounded in a drone attack on the Kyiv region and at least six private houses and several cars were damaged, it said.
Russia also pounded the city of Kharkiv in the northeast with guided bombs, wounding at least 25 people, said regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Mr Zelenskiy issued a fresh appeal to Kyiv’s partners to help strengthen its air defences.
“Air defence, long-range capabilities, weapons packages, sanctions against the aggressor – this is the answer that is needed, not only in words, but also in actions,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia has intensified its air attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, sending swarms of drones almost every night.
Ukrainian officials say Russia is trying to stretch Ukraine’s air defences and demoralise the civilian population as the war nears the 1,000-day mark and Moscow’s troops advance in the east.
Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in October, Ukraine’s military said.– Reuters