BUDAPEST, January 26. /TASS/. The Hungarian government fears that EU leaders may pressure all European countries to agree to deploy troops to Ukraine, following the example of the UK and France, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said.
He recalled that on January 6, after a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in London, the UK and France agreed with Ukraine to deploy their servicemen there once the conflict ends. "The next step will clearly involve all other countries in this process," the foreign minister warned while speaking on The Hour of Truth program on YouTube.
Szijjarto noted that "the Ukrainians are failing to make progress on the battlefield, and Russia is continually pushing them back." "That is why everyone in Europe is now talking more openly about the need to send soldiers to Ukraine, because supplying weapons is pointless if there is no one to use them or no one knows how to do so," he explained.
"Ukraine has been at war for four years. Hundreds of thousands have died. We may not have exact figures, but millions have fled the country. The entire nation is in ruins. Electricity supply is virtually gone. The mayor of Kiev is asking residents to leave the city. Meanwhile, Zelensky, the leader of a country where hundreds of thousands are dying and millions are fleeing, is traveling to Davos and delivering a speech full of attacks on [Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orban," Szijjarto said.
The foreign minister also highlighted that Kiev, together with Brussels, is pressuring Budapest to stop using Russian energy resources.
"The Ukrainians are demanding that we stop buying oil and natural gas from Russia. Without these resources, we will not be able to maintain a reliable energy supply, and housing and utility costs will immediately triple," Szijjarto said, adding that the Hungarian opposition has also spoken out against Russian energy supplies.
"We will not allow political hotheads of any kind to deprive Hungary of affordable energy just to satisfy Ukraine’s demands," he assured.