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How Orbán’s Anti-Ukraine Crusade Fuels Hungary’s Election War Machine
10 October 2025
6 December 2022
In the EU, Hungary has been the least outright supporter of Ukraine through the blocking of collective loans and attempts to prevent Russian sanctions from being realised, and yet they do still vocalise support. These divergent stances confuse many in Kyiv as the two countries share a similar past with the same oppressor.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s words that Europeans need a sovereign Ukraine so that Russia cannot threaten Europe were received with genuine enthusiasm in Kyiv. Moreover, they were uttered against the backdrop of Hungarian President Katalin Novák’s visit to Ukraine.
The head of the neighbouring state visited Kyiv and Transcarpathia, and during her stay in the Ukrainian capital she blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war, stating that “Hungarians have been against bloodshed, pain and suffering from the beginning.”