'Why should we consider such a person?': Zelenskyy dismisses Orbán's 'peace mission'

The Hungarian premier's visits to Moscow and Beijing over the past two weeks have drawn wide condemnation.

Transcript

00:00Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's

00:07self-styled peace mission trips to Russia and China. Speaking at the European Political

00:13Community Summit, Zelensky, who didn't name Orban directly, said European leaders should

00:19turn their backs on him.

00:22But if someone in Europe tries to resolve issues behind others' backs or even at the

00:29expense of someone else, if someone wants to make some trips to the capital of war to

00:38talk and perhaps promise something against our common interests or the expense of Ukraine

00:45or other countries, then why should we consider such a person?

00:51Zelensky also warned leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin may approach them

00:55in a bid to tempt or pressure you to blackmail you so that one of you betrays the rest.

01:03The summit in the UK comes two weeks after Orban, then just days into his six-month rotating

01:08presidency of the Council of the EU, travelled to Moscow for talks with Putin about the war

01:14in Ukraine.

01:16He then jetted to Beijing for similar talks with President Xi Jinping. The trips, which

01:22Orban declared a peace mission, have drawn strong condemnation from other EU leaders.

01:28But the Hungarian government insists the trips were done on a purely bilateral basis and

01:32that Orban was not representing the bloc.

01:35Asked about the criticism he's received, Orban said other European countries are more pro-war

01:41than his own.

01:43President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also took aim at Orban, describing

01:48his controversial trips as an appeasement mission.

01:52Russia is banking on Europe and the West going soft. And some in Europe are playing along.

02:02Two weeks ago, a European Union prime minister went to Moscow. This so-called peace mission

02:12was nothing but an appeasement mission.

02:16The European Commission earlier this week announced its commissioners would boycott

02:19informal council meetings organized by the Hungarian presidency and send senior civil

02:25servants instead.