Donald Trump’s announcement that he will meet Vladimir Putin in Budapest to discuss Ukraine will be felt as a painful blow in the European Union (EU), and Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, must feel like the cat who got the cream, writes The Telegraph.

“The choice of Hungary for the summit will have wiped the smile off the EU’s face. The bloc has been largely sidelined in the Ukraine peace talks and is smarting at the peripheral role it played in the Gaza peace plan,” the article adds.

According to its author, European diplomats hope for a change of power in Hungary, as Orban obstructs EU policies, but the upcoming negotiations between the Russian and US leaders in Budapest will only strengthen the Hungarian PM’s standing on the world stage.

After a phone conversation with Putin, Trump on Thursday announced that they had agreed to meet soon in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. The US president later clarified that it could take place within the next two weeks.