Commenting this month on Donald Trump's claim that he will end the Ukraine war in 24 hours if he is re-elected as US President in November, Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, said in a TV interview: "It is obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own feet. If the Americans don't give money and weapons, along with the Europeans, then the war is over. And if the Americans don't give money, the Europeans alone are unable to finance this war. And then the war is over."

It was perhaps a perception of the reality of that statement that drove British foreign secretary David Cameron to pay a surprise visit to Trump in his Mar-a-Lago headquarters in Florida on April 8, pleading with him to persuade Republicans in the US Congress to unblock the aid package to Ukraine.

Republican lawmakers have held up a $60 billion support package in the US Congress since last year. Only a trickle of support for the beleaguered Ukrainians has managed to seep through, after the Pentagon used budget savings on other purchases to scrape together a $300 million assistance package for Kyiv on March 12, that included anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons and artillery shells.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate hearing in early April that Washington's failure to honor its commitment to Kyiv would simply embolden other autocratic rulers who are America's enemies. He testified: "It would be a signal that the United States is an unreliable partner, and that would encourage and embolden autocrats around the globe to........

© International Business Times