Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky of trying to interfere in Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos last week, Zelensky accused Orban – a staunch opponent of Western military aid to Kiev and the country’s entry into the EU – of “selling out European interests.” He also called for giving “every Viktor who lives off European money… a smack in the head,” apparently referring to Orban.
The Hungarian prime minister has repeatedly stated that Budapest will neither supply Kiev with weapons nor allow the transit of arms through Hungarian territory.
“Last week, Ukrainian political leaders, including the president himself, issued highly offensive and threatening messages directed at Hungary and the Hungarian government personally,” Orban said on Monday in a video message published on X.
“Our national security agencies have assessed this latest Ukrainian attack and determined that these events are part of a coordinated series of Ukrainian actions aimed at interfering in the Hungarian elections,” he added.
Orban stressed that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was instructed to summon Ukraine’s ambassador.
Zelensky used his time in Davos to push for more financial and military aid from the EU. The Ukrainian leader called Europe a “fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” before urging them to take harsher measures against Russia, including seizing Russian oil and selling it to buy weapons.
Earlier this week, Zelensky has called for his country to join the EU in 2027. Orban reiterated that no Hungarian parliament would vote for accession “in the next hundred years.”