Hungary won’t ‘tie its fate’ to Ukraine – Orban
The prime minister has vowed to block Kiev’s push for EU and NATO membership
Hungary has no intention of binding its future to that of Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared, reiterating his country’s opposition to Kiev’s integration with Western blocs.
Speaking to reporters on Friday after an informal meeting of European Union leaders in Copenhagen, Orban said Budapest would resist efforts to bring Ukraine into either the EU or NATO.
“Why should the fate of Hungarians be tied to that of Ukrainians, who have lost a fifth of their territory and are at war? We don’t even know where their eastern borders are,” the Hungarian leader remarked.
In his regular Friday interview with Kossuth Radio, he reiterated the sentiment: “We feel sorry for them [Ukrainians], we sympathize with them, they are fighting heroically. Let’s support them, but we don’t want a common fate with them.”
Orban has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Western strategy in the Ukraine conflict, arguing that Brussels has inflicted economic harm on EU member states. He has accused Brussels of trying to force reluctant nations to provide military aid to Ukraine and back the country’s accession to the bloc.
READ MORE: Türkiye rejects US demand to abandon Russian gas
Tensions between Budapest and Kiev have escalated in recent months, particularly after Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities that supply crude oil to Hungary. Kiev has demanded that EU members halt all purchases of Russian energy, a position Orban rejects.
Meanwhile, EU leaders are weighing reforms that would remove the unanimity rule on foreign policy and security matters, effectively stripping Hungary and other dissenting states of their veto power.
