Hungary's Orban Accuses EU of Prolonging War in Ukraine

Hungary's prime minister says the European Union is partly to blame for prolonging Russia’s war in Ukraine

By Associated Press

|https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-02-18/hungarys-orban-accuses-eu-of-prolonging-war-in-ukraine

Feb. 18, 2023

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Saturday that the European Union is partly to blame for prolonging Russia’s war in Ukraine, doubling down on his government’s insistence that supporting Kyiv was a mistaken strategy for Europe.

Speaking at an annual state of the nation address in Budapest, Orban said the EU had fanned the flames of the war by sanctioning Russia and supplying Ukraine with money and weapons, rather than seeking to negotiate peace with Moscow.

“When Russia launched its attack, the West didn’t isolate the conflict but elevated it to a pan-European level,” Orban said. “The war in Ukraine is not a conflict between the armies of good and evil, but between two Slavic countries that are fighting against one another. This is their war, not ours.”

Under the slogan “Peace and Security,” Orban’s nearly hour-long address focused largely on the conflict in Ukraine, which is approaching its one-year mark, Feb. 24.

The right-wing populist leader has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, saying he and his government are “on the side of peace,” and condemning his Western allies for providing assistance to Kyiv.