Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Òrban predicted on Friday that the war in Ukraine will drag on and believed there is little chance of a short-term ceasefire.
“After listening to the President of Ukraine [Volodymyr Zelensky]it was clear that this war will drag on” on time, Orbán said in a videotaped message posted to the social network Facebook, referring to Zelensky’s statements at the European Union leaders’ summit.
The Hungarian Prime Minister added that as the armed conflict is unlikely to end any time soon, Hungary will continue a humanitarian program in support of Ukraine, but guaranteed that “it will not send weapons”.
Zelensky was at the EU summit on Thursday, where he met – bilaterally and collectively – with leaders of member states to advocate for more weapons and fighter jets.
During one of these meetings, Ukrainian President invited Orbán to Ukraine, but as of this morning no official response had been released from Hungary.
Relations between Orbán and Zelensky are tense as the Ukrainian leader accuses the Hungarian of supporting Russian interests, while Hungary criticizes Ukraine for undermining the rights of the country’s ethnic minorities, including the Magyar, who number about 150,000.
Hungary’s administration minister, Gergely Gulyás, on Thursday criticized Western countries sending tanks to Ukraine as this strategy could increase the danger of European involvement in the armed conflict.
“We don’t know if this strategy will not be dangerous in the perspective that it could involve Europe in the war”he said in statements to journalists, reiterating Hungary’s condemnation of Russian aggression “despite what the international press claims”, and again stressed the need for peace negotiations.
Source: DN
