Hungary's Orban reiterates call for ceasefire in Ukraine

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday reiterated his call for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine and for peace negotiations to begin.

"Human lives can only be saved by a ceasefire," the right-wing populist leader said in his annual state of the nation address in Budapest.

Hungary, which is a member of both the EU and NATO, has been a reluctant supporter of Western sanctions on Russia. Orban has maintained a friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he took office in 2010.

Even after the Russian war invasion of Ukraine almost exactly one year ago, the relationship between Budapest and Moscow did not really cool down. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto continued to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"We continue to maintain economic relations with Russia, and we also recommend this to our alliance partners," Orban said in his speech.

At the same time, he conceded that Hungary is isolated within the Western blocs because of its Russia policy, leaving just two left in the "peace camp," he said, "Hungary and the Vatican."

Germany bore responsibility for this, according to Orban. Influenced by Germany's changing stance towards the conflict, other countries had also given in to external pressure and switched to the "war camp," now headed by Berlin, he claimed.

"In the beginning, the Germans did not supply weapons, only helmets," Orban said. Now, though, German Leopard tanks would soon be rolling "through Ukrainian territory to the east, to the Russian border."

"Maybe even the old maps are still there," he continued, alluding to Nazi Germany's military campaign against the former Soviet Union.