Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned Ukraine on Tuesday against making “hostile and aggressive” statements, threatening unspecified responses if Kyiv doesn’t change course.
The nationalist leader, one of US President Donald Trump’s and Moscow’s closest partners in the European Union, blasted Kyiv for its decision to halt Russian gas transit to Central Europe.
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Trump’s return to the White House has emboldened nationalist politicians around the world.
“The way Ukrainians have refused to settle this in a negotiated way is simply unacceptable. Aggressive and hostile statements are coming from Kyiv, and this is not the way to resolve these issues,” Orban said after holding talks with his Slovakian counterpart Robert Fico.
“I would like to point out that Kyiv no longer sits so firmly in the saddle, that it can afford this,” he told reporters in Bratislava.
“The changes taking place in the world are working against Kyiv, weakening its position. If it remains aggressive and hostile, it will lose out. We will end up getting angry and we will take countermeasures,” he added.
Orban has repeatedly called for peace talks and refused to send military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022, and said his “pro-peace” position has become the “mainstream” in the Western world with Trump’s return.
Orban said on Monday that the United States now has a “patriotic, peace-loving, migration-rejecting, family-oriented president”.
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The Hungarian premier voiced opposition to Ukraine’s NATO membership, insisting it “will never have unanimous support” in the alliance and “there is no point in talking about it.”
“The Russians have made it clear that they are prepared to challenge Ukraine’s NATO membership at the cost of war and military aggression. So the question is not whether we want to give Ukraine NATO membership, but whether we want to go to war against Russia.”
“Everything must be done to bring about peace, and membership of Ukraine-NATO is tantamount to war, so we do not support it,” Orban said.
Fico stressed he will oppose accepting Ukraine into NATO, claiming “it is a big risk as it could lead to World War 3”.
The Slovak premier ended military aid to Ukraine when he took over from a centre-right government in October 2023.
Like Orban, Fico has been advocating peace talks with Russia.
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