Orban questions the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, criticizes EU support for Kiev

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán questioned who started the Russia-Ukraine war and criticized Western leaders for supporting Kiev.

Orbán said EU leaders are justifying their support by presenting Ukraine as a small country that has been attacked.

"Of course, it's not that small," Orbán said, referring to Ukraine. "And it's not even clear who attacked whom. However, it is a country that has been subjected to violence."

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he said that two of Moscow's main goals were the "liberation of Donbass from the Kiev regime" and the "demilitarization and denazification" of the country.

At his annual press conference on Friday, Putin defended what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

"We do not consider ourselves responsible for the deaths of people because we were not the ones who started the war," Putin said in response to a question, blaming the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a "coup".

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha responded to Orbán's comments by posting on social media: "As 'unclear' as it was for the leadership of Hungary in 1939." Orbán was speaking to reporters after a European Council summit, where EU leaders agreed to jointly borrow 90 billion euros to send financial aid to Ukraine.

Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic chose not to participate in the program to finance Kiev, cementing their skeptical alliance towards Ukraine and dealing another blow to EU unity after leaders failed to reach an agreement on using more than 200 billion euros in frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine.

Orbán also revealed ahead of Thursday's EU summit that Putin had warned the Hungarian leader that Moscow would take countermeasures if the EU used Russian assets to help Ukraine.

According to Orbán, Putin told him that there would be "a strong response using all instruments of international law and they will take into account the position of each member state of the union." "So, we Hungarians have defended ourselves," Orbán said.

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