Orbán: War in Ukraine will end in 2025, either through negotiations or one side being destroyed

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is convinced that Russia's war against Ukraine will end in 2025 either through peace talks or the destruction of one of the warring parties.

"The war will end in 2025. It will either end through peaceful negotiations or the destruction of one of the warring parties," Orbán said in an interview with the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet.

Orbán believes that after the end of Russia's war against Ukraine, European economies, particularly Hungary's, will again "enjoy great economic success".

At the same time, he reflected on the war, lamenting that "the stars have never aligned so badly and the last four years have been the most difficult since the winds of regime change brought me into politics".

Earlier, Orbán gave his version of why US President-elect Donald Trump, whom he openly supports, failed to end the war in Ukraine in a day, despite repeatedly promising to do so.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised Orbán's attempts to present himself as a "mediator" in the "settlement" of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry accused Orban of making a "PR move" by proposing a "Christmas truce" between Kyiv and Moscow.