Orban hails host role

HUNGARY'S nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban has celebrated his country’s status as the host of upcoming talks between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, a meeting where the two leaders are expected to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine.

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Mr Trump announced his second meeting this year with Mr Putin on Thursday, a day before the US President was due to sit down with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House yesterday.

A date for the meeting has not been set, but Mr Trump said it would take place in Hungary's capital, Budapest, and suggested it could happen in about two weeks.

Speaking to state radio yesterday, Mr Orban, a close ally of Mr Trump and considered Mr Putin’s closest partner in the European Union, suggested that his longstanding opposition to the West supplying Ukraine with aid for its defence against Russia’s invasion had played a role in making Budapest the site of the talks.