THE leading European members of the Nato military alliance want war with Russia, not peace in Ukraine, Hungary’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference following a meeting of Nato foreign ministers, Peter Szijjarto told reporters: “I can tell you that Nato member countries belonging to the European mainstream do not want peace.

“The mainstream does not want peace, it wants war against Russia and therefore seeks to undermine peace efforts” (to settle the conflict in Ukraine).

Mr Szijjarto said the most shocking thing about the current situation is Western Europe’s attitude towards a long-term confrontation with Russia.

He said: “Even if peace is achieved and peacekeeping efforts are successful despite attempts to undermine them, leading European Nato countries say they will still expect hostile relations with Russia in the long term.”

According to Hungary’s top diplomat, EU countries are still under the illusion that Ukraine can win the war against Russia.

Mr Szijjarto said that even though Europe has sent huge quantities of weapons to Ukraine they have still not been able to “turn the tide on the battlefield.”

The view of the Hungarian government is that the conflict in Ukraine cannot be settled by military means, which “is why we fully support US President Donald Trump’s peacekeeping efforts.”