Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Monday questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty and shrugged off accusations from Kyiv that Hungarian reconnaissance drones had violated the country’s airspace.
“Let’s suppose they flew a few meters in there [Ukraine], and so what?” Orbán said on the Fighter’s Hour podcast produced by his Fidesz party.
“Ukraine is not an independent country. Ukraine is not a sovereign country … If we, that is the West, decide not to give it a single forint [Hungarian currency], tomorrow Ukraine could shut down,” he added.
Relations between Budapest and Kyiv have deteriorated in recent months as Hungary persists in blocking Ukraine’s EU accession while preserving energy ties with Moscow despite the Kremlin’s ongoing full-scale invasion.
Orbán argued that Kyiv has already “lost one-fifth of its territory” to Russia and that its survival depends entirely on Western aid. “That is where sovereignty ended, and we support the remaining territory,” he said, adding that Hungary and Ukraine “may disagree, but we are not enemies.”
Ordering an investigation into the incident, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday claimed “likely Hungarian” drones had crossed the border to conduct reconnaissance of industrial sites.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó swiftly rejected the allegations, accusing Zelenskyy of “losing his mind to his anti-Hungarian obsession.”
Orbán on Monday further downplayed the security concerns, insisting Ukraine should “be dealing with the drones on its eastern border” where the ground war with Russia is being fought.
“No one is going to attack it from here,” he said. “Two, three, or four Hungarian drones, whether they crossed the border or not, is not the issue the Ukrainians should be concerned with.”
The broader Kyiv-Budapest feud shows no sign of abating.
Later Monday, Gergely Gulyás, the minister overseeing Orbán’s office, said Hungary was introducing “reflective measures against Ukrainian news portals” in retaliation for Kyiv’s decision in mid-September to block several foreign news sites, including the Hungarian pro-government outlets Origo and Demokrata, citing concerns they were spreading Russian propaganda.
Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report.
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