Orban calls for EU-Russia summit, rejects joint statement on Ukraine

BUDAPEST, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) should not set conditions for talks to which its leaders are not invited, but should initiate its own summit with Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Tuesday, explaining why Hungary did not join a joint EU statement on Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, 26 EU member states issued a declaration welcoming U.S. President Donald Trump's stated efforts to help end the conflict in Ukraine ahead of his planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska later this week. Hungary is the only EU member state not to associate itself with the declaration.

"The declaration tries to set conditions for a negotiation to which the EU leaders were not even invited," Orban wrote on social media. "It is already sad enough that the EU has been sidelined."

He added that the only reasonable course of action would be, following the example of the planned U.S.-Russia meeting, to initiate an EU-Russia summit. "Let's give peace a chance," he said.

The declaration, published by the European Council, said a "just and lasting peace" must respect international law, including Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and that borders must not be changed by force. EU leaders pledged continued political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support for Ukraine, including backing its right to self-defense and its path toward EU membership.

Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss a possible Russia-Ukraine ceasefire and ways to improve bilateral ties. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Union's representatives have not been invited to the negotiation.