Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, targeted by the Ukrainian President in a message to EU leaders, “rejectedon Friday the demands for the delivery of weapons and harsher sanctions, deeming them “contrary to the interests” from his country.
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“Hungary wants to stay out of this war and will not allow arms transfer to Ukraine“, reaffirmed Viktor Orban, according to comments reported by government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs. Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Budapest, while welcoming refugees, has refused to send military aid and has prohibited the transfer of lethal weapons through its territory. “Listen, Viktor, do you know what is happening in Mariupol?“Launched Volodymyr Zelensky to the Hungarian sovereignist leader, who has approached the Kremlin in recent years.
Defense of Hungarian interests
“You gotta decide once and for all which side you’re on“, he added in this video call broadcast Thursday evening during a summit of the 27 in Brussels. The Ukrainian president also called on Hungary, which is highly dependent on Russian energy resources, to cease all trade with Moscow. “Shutting off oil and gas taps would make Hungarian families pay the price of war“Reacted Zoltan Kovacs. “We can’t afford it“, he underlined, as Viktor Orban prepares for close elections on April 3. According to opposition leader Peter Marki-Zay, Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech shows “isolation» by Viktor Orban, seen «as the last ally of (Vladimir) Putin within the EU and NATO“.
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Earlier this week, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk accused Hungary of “dream secretlyto annex Transcarpathia, a region in western Ukraine where a large Hungarian-speaking community lives. Geographically cut off from the rest of the country by the eastern part of the Carpathians, this territory was under the control of Budapest until the First World War. Tossed about between states, it finally joined Ukraine, which had become independent in 1991. The Hungarian embassy in kyiv denounced “baseless and slanderous accusations“.
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