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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made clear that his country does not intend to tie its future to Ukraine, reaffirming Budapest’s opposition to Ukraine’s integration into Western alliances.
Speaking to reporters on Friday after an informal European Union summit in Copenhagen, Orban said Hungary would resist moves to bring Ukraine into either the EU or NATO.
“Why should the future of Hungarians be bound to that of Ukrainians, who have already lost one-fifth of their territory and remain at war? We don’t even know where their eastern borders lie,” Orban said.
In his weekly interview with Kossuth Radio, he repeated the point: “We feel sorry for them, we sympathize with them, and they are fighting bravely. Let us support them, but we do not want to share a common destiny with them.”
Orban has been one of the strongest critics of the EU’s approach to the Ukraine war, claiming that Brussels’ policies have damaged European economies. He has also accused EU leaders of pressuring unwilling nations to send military support to Ukraine and to back its membership bids.
Relations between Budapest and Kiev have worsened recently, especially after Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure that supplies oil to Hungary. Ukraine has urged EU countries to stop buying Russian energy, a stance Orban firmly rejects.
At the same time, EU leaders are considering reforms that would scrap the unanimity rule on foreign and security policy, which would take away Hungary’s and other dissenting states’ power to veto such decisions.
