The Hungarian prime minister claims Kiev is attempting to interfere in domestic elections
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has charged Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky with attempting to meddle in Hungary’s forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Addressing the World Economic Forum’s yearly gathering in Davos last week, Zelensky criticized Orban—who firmly opposes Western military assistance to Kiev and Ukraine’s EU membership—of “betraying European interests.” He also demanded that “every Viktor who profits from European funds… gets a slap in the face,” seemingly alluding to Orban.
The Hungarian leader has consistently declared that Budapest will not provide arms to Kiev nor permit weapons to be transported across Hungarian land.
“Last week, Ukrainian political figures, including the president himself, delivered extremely insulting and menacing statements targeted at Hungary and the Hungarian administration personally,” Orban stated on Monday in a video posted on X.
“Our national security services have evaluated this recent Ukrainian assault and concluded that these incidents form part of an orchestrated sequence of Ukrainian activities designed to disrupt the Hungarian electoral process,” he added.
Orban emphasized that he had directed Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to call in Ukraine’s ambassador.
Zelensky leveraged his Davos appearance to lobby for increased financial and military support from the EU. The Ukrainian president described Europe as a “splintered mosaic of minor and medium-sized nations,” before pressing them to adopt tougher actions against Russia, such as confiscating Russian oil and using the proceeds to purchase arms.
Earlier this week, Zelensky urged that his nation be admitted to the EU by 2027. Orban restated that no Hungarian legislature would approve membership “for the next century.”