Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the war in Ukraine will end when the United States stops giving it weapons and funds.
He stated this in an interview with the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet, which was published on December 27.
"Ukraine can continue to fight only as long as the United States supports it with money and weapons. If the Americans want peace, then there will be peace," Orbán said.
Ukraine reacted to this statement. Thus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that such statements by Orban demonstrate "pathological contempt for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, who are resisting Russian aggression, as well as his own political short-sightedness."
"The Hungarian leader should ask himself if he wants peace. If the answer is yes, he needs to use his close ties with Moscow so that it stops aggression against Ukraine and withdraws its troops," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry added.
- Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Hungary has not provided military aid to Ukraine, periodically blocks the allocation of EU funds to it and opposes anti-Russian sanctions. In November 2022, the Hungarian government decided to provide $195 million in financial aid to Ukraine.
- In November, Orbán was photographed wearing a scarf depicting "Greater Hungary," the territory of the former Kingdom of Hungary before World War I. Now, most of these territories are included in Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, and Ukraine. After the First World War, Hungary was left with only about 30% of the territories it had before the war. After that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine summoned the Hungarian ambassador. Orban himself said that "football is outside of politics" and the Hungarian national team is a team of "all Hungarians, wherever they live."