Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó expressed his frustration after almost no one in the European Union supported the “Christmas ceasefire” idea proposed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on December 16.
Szijjártó argued that the EU is ignoring the situation on the battlefield, where Russian forces are making faster advances, as they continue to pursue the “current strategy” (without specifying what exactly this entails).
“They don’t even care that Christmas is approaching,” Szijjártó added, pointing out that none of the participants in the meeting, including Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, supported the idea of a “Christmas ceasefire.” According to Szijjártó, while some ministers were in favor of a ceasefire in general, others “clearly opposed” it. Only the Foreign Minister of Slovakia expressed support for a diplomatic solution to the war, he claimed.
As a reminder, Viktor Orbán proposed on December 11 that Hungary offer a Christmas ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange with Ukraine, but President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea.
