Hungary Lone EU Member To Defend Trump's Zelenskyy Remarks

President Trump came under intense fire from politicians in both major parties and much of the leadership of the European Union this week for his move to negotiate a settlement of the Russia-Ukraine War with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but not including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the negotiations.

The one notable exception was Hungary, whose foreign minister spoke to Newsmax Wednesday in strong defense of Trump’s position.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto spoke Wednesday, following reports the U.S. President had taken to his Truth Social network to brand Zelenskyy "a Dictator without Elections" who has done "a terrible job, his Country is shattered and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died — And so it Continues."

Leaders of several European Union countries immediately hit back at Trump, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz slamming Trump’s criticism of Zelenskyy as "simply wrong and dangerous" and French President Emmanuel Macron warning on X that "Ukraine must always be included [in negotiations] and its rights respected."

Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union Party and the favorite to unseat Scholz in elections Sunday, told reporters that Trump’s comments were "a classic reversal of the role of perpetrator and victim … I am somewhat shocked Donald Trump has now obviously made this his own." 

But Hungary’s Szijjarto, who spoke to Newsmax shortly before a meeting with Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, had a far different view. 

"First, it has been our position for three years that the only way to solve this conflict is an American-Russian agreement — nothing else," Szijjarto told Newsmax, "So if there is no Russian-American agreement, no sustainable peace can be made in the central part of Europe."

As for the criticism of EU leaders and Zelenskyy himself that the Ukrainian leader must be included in peace talks with Trump and Putin, Szijjarto shot back: "Zelenskyy is not in a position to say what he accepts and does not accept. President Zelenskyy is now basically receiving funds from the U.S. without which he would be unable to survive. President Zelenskyy is not in a position to dictate, not in a position to say what he will accept or not accept. He should be a bit more shy instead of making this huge communication action — he should think about how to stop the war and save the lives of the Ukrainian people."

Regarding the opposition of the EU to Trump’s position, the Hungarian foreign minister told us: "Europe is not able to replace the U.S. in this matter because the EU is losing competitiveness, so financially it is not strong enough. The EU and the EU membership have emptied the cupboard when it comes to aiding Ukraine. Europe is not able to replace U.S. It was the support of the U.S. that kept Zelenskyy, politically speaking, alive. So he’s not in a position to dictate."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.