Ukraine should view Hungary as strategic opponent, potential threat — international expert

Political scientist and international expert Maksym Nesvitailov expressed this opinion on the Espreso TV channel.

"Hungary is just a timid version of Russia. Ukraine should consider Hungary as a strategic opponent and perhaps even a potential threat, despite the fact that Hungary is a member of the European Union and NATO," he said.

Hungary has consistently acted to hurt Ukraine's interests. This is manifested not only in the fact that they veto or call on European countries not to provide Ukraine with weapons, Nesvitalov noted.

"Orban even sent his lobbyists to the United States to prevent the supply of weapons to Ukraine. So it looks like a clear consistent position. I do not believe that it can change through any negotiations," the international expert said.

Hungary pursued the same policy as the Russian Federation. The only difference was the scale, because they have less money, and a certain level of courage. After all, they do not have such powerful armed forces and do not have nuclear weapons. This is the only thing that limits them in certain actions, Nesvitailov said.

"Their imperial sentiments have not disappeared, it is inherent in Orban personally, his government, and a significant part of the population. We all remember the scarf with the image of 'Greater Hungary', which depicts the territory of Ukraine. In Orban's office, if I'm not mistaken, there is a map of Greater Hungary, which also includes the territory of Ukraine. At one time, they used a lot of lies and manipulations about Ukraine in their textbooks, and there were scandals on several occasions. They, like Russia, gave their passports illegally in Prykarpattia and Zakarpattia, as well as carried out linguistic and cultural expansion. The Hungarian national anthem was played in some village and town councils, flags were raised, etc.", the political scientist recalled.

That is why, according to him, it is possible to work with Hungary only through pressure.

Hungary blocks EU aid to Ukraine: details

On December 15, 2023, Viktor Orban vetoed the EU's decision on the EUR 50 billion budget assistance program for Ukraine.

On December 15, it was reported that the EU had found a way to circumvent Orban's blocking of EUR 50 billion in aid to Ukraine and set a date for an extraordinary summit.

On December 21, Orban came up with a new explanation for why he opposes Ukraine's accession to the EU. On the same day, he said he was ready to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On December 18, media reported that a special summit of the European Commission to discuss the allocation of EUR 50 billion for Ukraine for 4 years would take place on February 1, 2024.

On January 9, it was reported that Hungary might lift its veto on the EUR 50 billion EU aid package to Ukraine, provided that the funding is reviewed annually.

On January 10, despite Hungary's opposition, Brussels voted to start negotiations with the European Parliament on providing Ukraine with EUR 50 billion in macro-financial assistance for the next four years.

For his part, Orban assured that he was not against helping Ukraine in principle, but insisted that any funding for Ukraine should be separated from the EU budget and proportional to the economies of the member states.

After meeting with Viktor Orban in Budapest, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he supports his "legitimate" fight against changes to the EU budget to allocate EUR 50 billion to Ukraine.

On January 25, Bloomberg wrote that Hungary would not prevent the establishment of a EUR 5 billion EU military fund for Ukraine, which would allow it to initiate an agreement to modernize the mechanism of stable arms supplies to Kyiv.

On January 29, the European Union prepared an action plan against Hungary if it does not agree to provide aid to Ukraine. The main goal is to damage Budapest's economy and lift the veto.