Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,
Hungary and Ukraine have summoned each other’s ambassadors amid a sharp escalation in diplomatic tensions, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accusing Kyiv of attempting to interfere in Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections and Ukraine rejecting the claims as cynical and dishonest.
In a series of social media posts on Wednesday, Orbán alleged that Hungary had been subjected to “daily threats from Ukraine,” naming President Volodymyr Zelensky, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and Ukrainian security services. “This will continue until the elections,” Orbán wrote, claiming that Kyiv wanted “a pro-Ukrainian government in Hungary” and was targeting members of his government, including Szijjártó and himself.
“We did not seek conflict, yet Hungary has been the target for days,” Orbán said, as cited by Magyar Hírlap. He added that Hungary would not be distracted from defending what he described as national interests, stating: “We will not send money to Ukraine, because it is in a better place with Hungarian families than in the bathroom of a Ukrainian oligarch.” He also reiterated his opposition to banning Russian oil and gas imports and to Ukraine joining the European Union, arguing that accession would “also import war.”
“As long as Hungary has a national government, these issues will not be decided in Kyiv or Brussels,” Orbán wrote.
Szijjártó said that Ukraine had summoned Hungary’s ambassador in Kyiv earlier on Wednesday, adding that Budapest was “not surprised, neither by the fact, nor by what they said.” According to the foreign minister, Ukrainian officials again objected to Hungary’s national petition, which allows citizens to express views on what the government describes as Brussels’ and Kyiv’s plans to use Hungarian taxpayer money to fund and arm Ukraine.
The foreign minister said Ukraine offered no explanation for what he called President Zelensky’s “vulgar insults” of Orbán or for Sybiha’s claim that the Hungarian prime minister is acting like “one of Hitler’s henchmen.”
Szijjártó warned that Kyiv appeared set to escalate what he described as interference in Hungary’s April election in support of opposition leader Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party. “We understand that Ukraine wants the Tisza Party to win, but only the Hungarian people can decide Hungary’s future, and whether we choose peace or war,” he said.
Hungary has also summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Budapest. “We will not tolerate any interference in Hungary’s elections, including Ukraine’s attempts to influence the outcome and to intervene in the electoral process in favor of the Tisza Party,” he said.
He accused President Zelensky and the Ukrainian government of conducting an “open, shameless and aggressive interference campaign” in recent weeks, adding: “That decision is made in Hungary, not in Brussels and certainly not in Kyiv. We will defend our sovereignty by every possible means.”
Szijjártó’s remarks echoed earlier comments by Orbán on Jan. 24, when the prime minister said Ukraine had “gone on the offensive” and was “issuing threats and openly interfering in the Hungarian elections.”
Ukraine has not responded directly to Szijjártó’s latest claims, but Sybiha addressed earlier accusations over the weekend, telling Hungarian officials “not to be afraid of Ukraine,” but of the Hungarian people. In a lengthy post on X, Sybiha accused Orbán of cynicism and historical manipulation, writing: “When Viktor Orbán says that he will not allow Ukraine to join the EU for the next 100 years, he is not really talking to the Ukrainian state. First and foremost, he is telling this to ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia.”
Sybiha went on to accuse Orbán of using ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine as “hostages to his geopolitical adventures,” and claimed that blocking Ukraine’s EU accession amounted to “yet another crime against the Hungarian people and Hungary itself.”
Hungary has long been opposed to further rearmament for Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia, accusing Brussels of carelessly spending European taxpayers’ cash in a desperate and unrealistic attempt to help Ukraine defeat Russia, allowing for the continuation of a war that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Hungary heads to the polls on April 12 in a hotly contested election in what many in Budapest say will be the toughest test yet for Orbán and his governing Fidesz party.