Hungary is against EU military missions in Ukraine. This is red line for us, - Szijjarto
Hungary opposes EU military missions involving military instructors on the territory of Ukraine, as this is a "red line." Budapest also does not support sanctions on energy imports from Russia.
This was stated by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto at a press conference after today's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Censor.NET reports.
"They (EU members - ed.) want to convene an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ukraine in May. First of all, they want to increase the cost of arms aid to Ukraine to 40 billion euros this year, of which the fastest and the first will be 2 million rounds of ammunition, which are currently being prepared for the fall. All the preparatory work is underway, because so far they can only do this on a voluntary basis, thanks to Hungary's previous refusal," he said.
Szijjarto emphasized that this is not a mechanism of mandatory payments. Countries will provide assistance to Ukraine only if they wish.
The Hungarian foreign minister also added that EU leaders want to send military advisors to train Ukrainian defenders.
According to him, Budapest is against such missions being conducted on the territory of Ukraine.
"Hungary has distanced itself from this mission, but it was a fundamental condition that such a mission, which operates exclusively outside Ukraine, should not be carried out on the territory of Ukraine by EU military instructors. This is a red line for us, and in no case can this be implemented on the territory of Ukraine, and we do not want the European Union to send military instructors or military advisors to Kyiv, because this carries a serious risk of further escalation of the war towards Europe," Sijjarto said.
"We will not support this, because the European Union is several hours behind, and the Americans are in direct talks with the Russians, the US president and the Russian president are talking to each other on the phone, their main representatives are traveling to each other's capitals," he said of the EU's sanctions on energy purchases from Russia.
Szijjártó added that Hungary is not responsible for the outbreak of Russia's war against Ukraine.
