Orban estimates probability of Russian defeat

The Ukraine conflict cannot end in Kiev’s favor on the battlefield, the Hungarian prime minister has said

The balance of military strength in the Ukraine conflict is so much in favor of Russia that its defeat on the battlefield is inconceivable, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban believes.

Orban has stirred anger in the West, particularly in the EU, with his decision to travel to Russia last week. The trip was part of what he terms a “peace mission” and came on the back of a similar visit to Kiev. He has since also visited China, and flies to the US to attend a summit of NATO leaders this week.

In an interview with the German tabloid Bild published on Monday, Orban made a case for the urgency of peace talks, saying that in the next few months hostilities between Russia and Ukraine would escalate further.

”The Russians are determined. The intensity of the confrontation, the number of deaths, the number of victims will be more brutal than in the last seven months,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a “clear vision” of what he wants to achieve in the conflict, as does Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, Orban said. But Moscow has vastly superior military strength.

Putin cannot lose, considering the balance of soldiers, equipment and technology. A Russian defeat is difficult to imagine. The probability that Russia could actually lose is too small to calculate.

EU nations share the responsibility for the hostilities persisting, because “Europe also has a war policy” Orban claimed. They also suffered collateral economic damage, so ending the war is in the EU’s selfish interests too, he added.

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Ukraine issues demands to potential conflict mediators

Putin vowed last month that he will order a ceasefire the minute Kiev renounces its ambition to make Ukraine a NATO member and pulls troops out of territories that Moscow claims under its sovereignty.

The Ukrainian government has rejected the proposal. Kiev hopes to pressure Moscow with the help of its Western backers to withdraw troops from all lands that it considers Ukrainian.

Zelensky told Bloomberg last week that his nation has 14 underequipped brigades on standby waiting for more Western weapons to arrive in Ukraine.

”We have the intention to fight, but we don’t have the tools,” he claimed.

The Ukrainian leader added that he will order new “counteroffensive actions” once his troops get more arms.