"One person thinks about himself, and two nations suffer." Zelenskyy responds to Orbán and the EU

Hungary's pro-Russian prime minister Viktor Orbán understands that joining the European Union is part of the security guarantees for Ukraine, but uses this issue in the electoral process, which is detrimental to the nations of both countries. This was announced by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy when talking to journalists.

The head of state was asked whether he felt that EU leaders perceive Ukraine's membership as a component of security guarantees and whether this was influenced by the identical view of the US president Donald Trump on Orbán's anti-Ukrainian position.

"We consider Ukraine's membership to be a part of security guarantees. EU leaders believe that these are very strong security guarantees for Ukraine. This is true. Ursula [head of the European Commission von der Leyen] and António [head of the European Council Costa], many leaders," Zelenskyy replied.

He said that the Hungarian prime minister "clearly understands" that joining the EU is part of the security guarantees for Ukraine, but for him, it is a question of election campaign.

The president believes that Orbán "thinks of himself first and foremost."

"This is how one person thinks about himself, and the whole nation suffers. Although I would say at least two, because this does not strengthen the friendship between Ukraine and Hungary, between Ukrainians and Hungarians. But everything will pass, and this will also pass, of course, everything will be fine, and no one can stop our path, because Ukrainians have a solution – we are moving forward," the Ukrainian leader emphasized.

The president noted that Trump also considers Ukraine's accession to the EU to be a component of security guarantees, which is "very important."

"I don't know how much he [the US president] thinks it will guarantee our security, but he knows how important it is to me. He knows that for me, it is economic stability and energy stability. Although, in principle, the economy, finance, and energy are part of security guarantees today," the head of state summarized.

The current Hungarian government is against the accession of Kyiv to the European Union and NATO. Parliamentary elections in the country are scheduled for April 2026.

• On December 19, the European Union agreed to 90 billion euros support for Ukraine for two years, but did not provide it at the expense of frozen Russian assets. The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia will not participate in the new aid.
• Earlier, Orbán stated that wrote a letter to dictator Putin regarding Russia's reaction to the possible use of its frozen assets.
• Polish foreign minister Sikorski sent the Hungarian PM a message with photo of the Order of Lenin, reacting to his statement about allegedly "averting an immediate threat of war" by the EU's failure to use Moscow's assets.
• Orbán also said that in Russia's war against Ukraine, it is allegedly "not entirely clear who attacked whom." Ukrainian FM Sybiha compared it to Budapest's participation in World War II on the side of Nazi Germany.