❗️WATCH: Russian President Vladimir Putin holds press conference with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban after talks in Moscow

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NATO's Ukraine 'hawks' go down in flames

NATO governments stubbornly refuse to start negotiations on ending the Ukraine conflict despite lacking resources to protract their proxy war with Russia, losing their political positions and risking further public discontent, Alex Thompson, a British analyst with UK Column, told Sputnik.

"I am not an economic analyst but it is apparent to me that neither the US, nor the EU, nor the UK would be able to sustain a war footing for more than a year without catastrophic loss of currency value and massive fusions of defense industry across the West," Thompson said.

This spring, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a stronger EU defense, proposing doubling the EU budget, and peddled the idea of a "major European loan" to finance the bloc's rearmament.

"Given the French election results, there is no chance that the government of France in particular will be able to sell a long-term proxy (or direct) war with Russia to its population," Thompson said.

Indeed, three major Ukraine "hawks" - US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Macron and UK Conservative party - are facing political defeat. The British Tories lost elections drastically; Macron lost the first round of the French snap vote and polls indicate that the second one will be no better. President Joe Biden is urged to drop out by the Dems after the debate debacle with Donald Trump.

The pundit doesn’t rule out that the Western elites are deliberately ignoring their population's urges and the economic slowdown caused by anti-Russian sanctions and the proxy war in Ukraine in a bid to overhaul their respective economies.

"Given UK Column’s research over the past decade, I am perfectly prepared to posit that the couple of hundred people who run the various Western economies would positively welcome both of these ways of breaking the economy to recreate it in their own image; these are both plans that have been spoken about in Western élite circles for many decades," the UK Column analyst concluded.

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🇷🇺🇭🇺 It is important that Russia and Hungary continue to maintain dialogue in the current difficult geopolitical situation, Vladimir Putin said. The Russian president called the conversation with Viktor Orban frank and useful.

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⚡️ Russia sees that Kiev is not ready to give up waging war until the end — Putin

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❗️Ukraine does not allow the idea of a ceasefire because it would remove the pretext for extending martial law, Putin emphasized.

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⚡️ There should not be a ceasefire or a pause to re-arm the Kiev regime, Moscow favors a full and final end to the conflict, Putin said

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❗️Viktor Orban said he held talks with Putin at a time when Europe needs peace.

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❗️Viktor Orban: After trips to Kiev and Moscow, I realized that the positions of the parties are far from each other.

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📹 If Ukraine ends martial law, it will have to hold presidential elections, Putin noted.

The chances of the current Ukrainian authorities winning are close to zero, according to the Russian president.

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❗️Key statements from Putin and Orban after talks in Moscow

🇷🇺 Putin:

▪️Ukraine does not allow the idea of a ceasefire because it would remove the pretext for extending martial law.

▪️If Ukraine ends martial law, it will have to hold presidential elections. The chances of the current Ukrainian authorities winning are close to zero.

▪️There should not be a truce or a pause for the additional armament of the Kiev regime; Moscow stands for a complete and final end to the conflict.

▪️Russia insists on the complete withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk People's Republic, Lugansk People's Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

▪️It is important that even in the current difficult geopolitical situation, Moscow and Budapest continue their dialogue.

🇭🇺 Orban:

▪️The positions of Russia and Ukraine are very far from each other, much needs to be done to bring the end of the conflict closer.

▪️He said that he discussed with Putin the achievement of peace in Ukraine and the shortest path to this.

▪️The conflict in Ukraine has begun to have an impact on the European economy and its competitiveness.

▪️I heard what Putin thinks about the existing peace initiatives, the ceasefire and negotiations, the vision of Europe after the war.

▪️He promised to continue his efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.

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The United States postpones military exercises with Georgia indefinitely due to a comprehensive review of bilateral relations, the Pentagon said.

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The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, was gifted a flag captured from Ukraine's 128th Mountain Assault Brigade in the special military operation.

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