Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pledged to block Ukraine’s attempts to join the EU and NATO.
Hungary does not intend to link its future with Ukraine’s, Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated, reaffirming his country’s opposition to Ukraine’s integration into Western alliances.
Speaking to reporters in Copenhagen on Friday, following an informal meeting of EU leaders, Orban said that Budapest would oppose any efforts to bring Ukraine into either the EU or NATO.
“Why should Hungarians’ fate be tied to Ukrainians, who have lost a fifth of their territory and are at war? We don’t even know the location of their eastern borders,” the Hungarian leader commented.
During his regular Friday interview with Kossuth Radio, he reiterated this sentiment: “We feel sorry for Ukrainians, we sympathize with them, and they are fighting bravely. We should support them, but we don’t desire a shared destiny with them.”
Orban has been a prominent critic of the West’s approach to the Ukraine conflict, arguing that Brussels has negatively impacted the economies of EU members. He has accused Brussels of pressuring reluctant nations to provide military aid to Ukraine and support the country’s entry into the bloc.
Tensions between Budapest and Kiev have risen recently, particularly after Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities that supply crude oil to Hungary. Kiev has demanded that EU members cease all purchases of Russian energy, a demand Orban rejects.
Meanwhile, EU leaders are considering reforms that would eliminate the need for unanimous agreement on foreign policy and security issues, which would effectively remove Hungary’s and other dissenting states’ veto power.
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