Trump endorses Orban ahead of elections

Orban recieves "Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election" from Trump in a social media post

US President Donald Trump has endorsed Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, ahead of the country’s parliamentary election, praising his illiberal ally as “a truly strong and powerful Leader” in a post published on Thursday.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president complimented Orbán for strengthening ties between Budapest and Washington. "Relations between Hungary and the United States have reached new heights of cooperation and spectacular achievement under my Administration, thanks largely to Prime Minister Orbán," Trump said. He continued: “I was proud to ENDORSE Viktor for Re-Election in 2022, and am honored to do so again. Viktor Orbán is a true friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Hungary”

The endorsement comes as Orbán faces his toughest elections since his Fidesz party returned to power in 2010. An opinion poll published on Tuesday showed Hungary’s centre-right Tisza party leading Fidesz.

Hungarian links found in the Epstein files, financier was fixated on a Budapest apartment

The newly released Epstein files contain numerous references linking Hungary to the financier accused of sexual offenses, with hundreds of documents mentioning Hungarian individuals and even Viktor Orbán. Emails indicate that he may have travelled to Budapest on several occasions, with repeated mentions emerging in his correspondence with Haakon Gundersen, a Norwegian film producer who has worked on a number of Hungarian productions in recent years.

The precise nature of the relationship between the two men remains unclear, though their exchanges suggest a hierarchical dynamic. Budapest first featured in their correspondence in October 2016, when the billionaire instructed Gundersen to transfer ownership of a Budapest apartment held by his company to a person identified as “Edward”. Subsequent emails show the property was located at 70 Király Street, where Gundersen’s production company, Alphaville Virtual Studios Kft., is still registered, according to Hungary’s company register. In early 2017, the billionaire pressed for the apartment to be sold, asking when and for how much; Gundersen replied that it could be sold within four to six weeks for €240,000. Later emails refer to visits to Budapest and disputes over the property’s title deeds, though it remains unknown how much time the billionaire spent in the city or what he did there. Gundersen has denied having ties to him.

The files also include correspondence with Norwegian diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen, who is mentioned thousands of times in the documents and had financial links to the billionaire; in January 2019, when Rød-Larsen asked for an address in Budapest, he was given that of the Király Street apartment.

Hungary bans three Ukrainian military officials

Hungary has banned three Ukrainian military leaders from entering the country, accusing them of being “responsible for forced conscription”, government spokesperson Gergely Gulyás said on Thursday. The ban extends to the entire Schengen area. Gulyás said the decision followed the 2025 death of József Sebestyén, a Hungarian man from Transcarpathia and the more recent death of another Hungarian man with health problems during conscription. In a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that Ukrainian citizens involved in “forced conscription” would be immediately barred from Hungarian territory. He cited information from Hungary’s foreign ministry alleging that in January a Hungarian man was taken from the street in the Berehove district of Transcarpathia for conscription, became unwell at a training centre due to a heart condition and later died.

Last summer Hungary initiated a Schengen-wide ban against Robert Brovdi, the highest-ranking ethnic Hungarian in the Ukrainian army, who as commander of drone units oversaw the Ukrainian strike on the Russian section of the Druzhba oil pipeline supplying Hungary and Slovakia.

Ukraine responded by banning three senior Hungarian military officers. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s embassy in Budapest said Ambassador Sándor Fegyir and Hungary’s interior minister, Sándor Pintér, had met to discuss bilateral cooperation, including the education of Ukrainian children in Hungary, the continuation of a Hungarian scholarship programme for Ukrainian students and Ukrainians imprisoned in Hungary.