BUDAPEST, March 18. /TASS/. The leaders of West European countries should recognize that their military strategy in Ukraine has failed and creates the risk of a new world war, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said before leaving for a meeting with his colleagues from the EU states in Brussels.

He believes that the situation in Europe is critical and "the threat of a world war is becoming ever more acute."

"The leaders of Western Europe should recognize that their strategy of war in Ukraine has failed and that a ceasefire would have been reached long ago had they exerted at least half of their efforts for the sake of establishing peace, and not supplying arms," Szijjarto wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia; owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).

Instead of seeking an end to the conflict, the idea of dispatching Western troops is being discussed at the suggestion of the French leadership, he noted.

The slogan "The best defense is a good offense" is now being used to fuel the threat of a world war, Szijjarto said. "The possible deployment of ground troops to Ukraine is fraught with the escalation of war and completely contradicts NATO decisions made to date," he emphasized. "We do not want war in Europe and we hope that our European colleagues will stop playing with fire," Szijjarto said.

He drew attention to the fact that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was going to join the meeting of European ministers by video link. In fact, it will be a "virtual transatlantic meeting with the US Secretary of State," Szijjarto said. The conflict in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and the situation in the Middle East will be discussed in Brussels.