Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has downplayed the alleged violation of Ukrainian airspace by Hungarian drones and added that "nobody" intends to attack the war-torn Eastern European country from Hungary, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reports.
Orban is the fiercest critic of Kiev in the EU and refuses to send military aid to his neighbor in its fight against the Russian invasion. Hungary is also blocking the tightening of sanctions against Russia, as well as Ukraine's accession to the European Union.
The nationalist leader said this after Ukraine accused Hungary of violating its airspace with several drones that allegedly tried to spy on border areas, further straining relations between the two neighbors, AFP notes. Kiev says the reconnaissance drones were detected on Friday morning, twice entering the skies of the western Ukrainian Zakarpattia region from Hungarian territory.
“Ukraine is not at war with Hungary, but with Russia“, Orban said in a podcast on social media hosted by his party's spokesman. “That's why it should be more worried about (Russian) drones on its eastern border, we are NATO countries here. So Ukraine's rear is secure. Nobody will attack it from here.“
Orban described the scandal as “fabricated“ and pointed out that on Friday the Hungarian defense minister had said that no drones had entered Ukraine from Hungarian airspace.
“But let's assume that some drones had entered a few meters. So what? Ukraine is not an independent state. Ukraine is not a sovereign country,“ he said. “We are the ones who keep this country alive. The West keeps it alive. Their weapons come from us. Ukraine should not act as if it is a sovereign state.“
HUNGARY SPIES INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES IN WESTERN UKRAINE, ACCORDING TO VOLODYMIR ZELENSKI
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Hungarian reconnaissance drones that violated his country's airspace were probably checking the industrial potential of Ukraine's western border regions, Reuters reported. He referred to preliminary assessments by the military, but did not specify when the drones were detected.
“I have ordered all available information to be checked and urgent reports to be prepared for each of the cases,“ he wrote on the social network “Telegram“ after a meeting with the high command of the armed forces on the subject.
Later in his traditional evening video address, Zelensky spoke about “rather strange incidents“ on the Hungarian border. He again said that he had requested a thorough inspection and added that he had ordered “if such drones appear again, to act accordingly to protect our state“.
The Ukrainian General Staff published photos on the Internet of violations of airspace by flying objects resembling drones. They added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had sent their own drones to patrol the skies over the area.
After the Russian invasion in February 2022, many of Ukraine's major industrial enterprises from the eastern and southern parts of the country moved to its western regions and other areas that are further from the front and safer, Reuters points out.
TENSION ALSO TRANSFERRED TO THE MEDIA FIELD
Along with the drone incident on Monday, Budapest announced that it would block access to 12 Ukrainian news websites. They added that the move was in response to Kiev's decision earlier this month to do so to eight Hungarian-language websites - including the popular pro-government portal “Origo“ (Origo), AFP reports.
Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Szibiga banned three senior Hungarian military officers from entering Ukraine in response to a similar move previously taken by Budapest against Ukrainian military personnel.
Since the start of the war in 2022, Ukraine has applied to join the 27-member EU, but has been unable to advance in the negotiations due to Orban's constant vetoes. According to Budapest, Kiev's possible entry into the EU poses security risks, as if this were to happen before the war is over, the bloc could be drawn into conflict with Russia. According to Ukraine, such concerns are unfounded.
Ukraine is home to about 150,000 ethnic Hungarians, most of them in the Transcarpathian region bordering Hungary. Budapest and Kiev have often clashed over the language rights of the community. In addition to being skeptical of Western military aid to Ukraine, Orban has maintained cordial relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin than other members of the EU and NATO, two organizations of which Hungary is a member but which are allies of Kiev over Russia's war in Ukraine, Reuters added.