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Ukraine on Wednesday issued a blistering response to controversial remarks made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during an interview with Tucker Carlson released a day earlier.
Orban, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, sat down on August 21 for his second interview in two years with former Fox News TV host Carlson, who published their conversation Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. Fox News announced in April that it would part ways with the longtime host.
The Hungarian leader has been criticized for pushing back against Western sanctions imposed on Russia after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and for attempting to thwart NATO's military support to the war-torn country.
In the 30-minute interview, filmed at Orban's office overlooking Budapest, the leader said Ukraine's victory against Moscow "is not just a misunderstanding. It is a lie. It's impossible," adding that the Russians "are far stronger" and that "what finally will count is boots on the ground."
"We should make a deal with the Russians on the new security architecture to provide security and sovereignty for Ukraine, but not membership in NATO," Orban told Carlson.
He said the possibility of Ukraine recapturing the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, was "totally unrealistic."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged last summer to retake Crimea, which is internationally recognized as Ukrainian. Since then, Kyiv has twice struck the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge which links the peninsula to the Russian mainland.
Orban also told Carlson he believes that the only way to end the war in Ukraine is to reelect Donald Trump as U.S. president to allow him to end financial assistance to Kyiv.
"Call back Trump[...]Trump is the man who can save the Western world," he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko issued a scathing response in a post on Facebook.
"We do not know about Hungary, but Ukraine does not trade its territories or its sovereignty," said Nikolenko. "In fact, we had already begun to worry that Viktor Orban took [such] a long pause in calling for an end to arms supply to Ukraine and for legitimizing Russia's aggression."
Newsweek has contacted Hungary's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
According to top Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan, Carlson has also requested to interview Putin.
Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled media organization RT, formerly Russia Today, made the comment during a broadcast on state TV channel Russia-1.
"Tucker is doing a great job. By the way, he's really asking for an interview with Vladimir Putin! It would be great if someone hears this and gets this message to the president," she said.
Carlson has not said whether Simonyan's claims are true or not, and did not respond to a request for comment by Newsweek.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more