In Kyiv, a music festival returns as fans, artists and soldiers are united by the inescapable war
Associated PressJUL 14 2024
Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, on Monday moved to rebuke Hungary over its solo attempts at finding peace in Ukraine, announcing that the next set of foreign and defense minister meetings will be held in Brussels rather than Budapest.
It comes after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, once his country assumed the rotating EU presidency earlier this month, traveled to meet the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and China, as well as the US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in an effort to find a negotiated settlement in Ukraine.
Announcing the move of venue to reporters on Monday, Borrell said: "We have to send a signal, even if this is a symbolic signal," adding that Hungary's uncoordinated actions must "have some formal consequences."
Russia, as the aggressor in this war, violated the UN charter. Any self-styled peace mission that fails to recognize this reality is unacceptable. Hungary must be shown that it cannot violate EU treaties and its foreign policy without consequences.
Continuing the pro-war hysteria by the EU, Hungary's attempts at ending the two-and-a-half-year war — with negative consequences for all — are treated as Kremlin propaganda. This is absurd and rather childish.