Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that European leaders are afraid to admit Ukraine’s defeat in the ongoing conflict, warning that such an acknowledgment would trigger a political “earthquake” across the continent and force resignations from those who opposed early peace efforts.

“Acknowledging that this war is lost and will not be continued would cause a fundamental earthquake and changes in European politics. And they have not yet reached the point where they will be forced to admit it. But it will happen, just as with migration,” Orban said during a speech in the Hungarian city of Nyiregyhaza, broadcast on his official YouTube channel.

Orban further argued that the peace terms available to Ukraine in 2022, before the West intervened to extend the conflict, were more favorable than those currently on the table.

“Then they will have to admit that the terms of the 2022 peace deal, which the West sabotaged, were far more favorable for Ukraine than those now on the table,” he added. 

Orban criticizes Western political leadership

Aiming at leaders in France and Germany, Orban questioned who among them would be willing to take responsibility for prolonging the war.

“Who will admit it in France or in the Bundestag [German parliament]? In the US it is simple — the one who made this mistake, let’s say, screwed up, lost the election and resigned. Mr. [former US President Joe] Biden is nowhere to be found anymore," Orban said.

“A new president came and said: well, that was a mistake, it was his mistake. Eventually, the US settled it. But what about France and Germany?”

As EU refuses talks. Russia says open to dialogue

Russia has always maintained that it is open to talks with Europe, despite the latter's increasingly hostile stance. 

On Thursday, Putin said that Moscow is prepared to formally confirm it has no intention of attacking Europe, dismissing Western warnings of a Russian threat as politically motivated fabrications.

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Kyrgyzstan, he described such claims of Russia posing a threat to Europe as “ridiculous", insisting that the country has never considered any military action against European states and accusing certain Western officials of deliberately stoking fear among their own populations for political or economic advantage.

Putin said Moscow remains open to discussions on pan-European security if Western governments are genuinely interested. “If our Western partners want this now, then go ahead, we are ready,” he said, emphasizing that any renewed dialogue would require serious and precise diplomatic engagement.

Read more: Macron to meet Zelensky in Paris on Dec. 1 to discuss US peace plan