Hungarian PM claims Hungary blocked Ukraine's EU accession

"We understand the Ukrainians, we see their heroic struggle, we also see that they need help, but we want to help them in a way that doesn't destroy us. Ukraine's membership in the EU would mean we destroy ourselves. In an instant, we would be drawn into a war with Russia, and we would drag it into the EU, including Hungary," the Prime Minister said.

Orbán also emphasized that "yesterday, having received over 2 million votes from Voks2025, we stopped Ukraine's accession to the EU."

At the same time, he stated that Ukraine's membership must happen as soon as possible.

"Before any listeners think that Ukraine's membership is something far off in the future, I would like to convince them that no, it must happen now, as soon as possible. We are talking about an immediate threat," Orbán explained.

Following this statement, the Hungarian Prime Minister began speaking about the purpose behind the creation of NATO and the EU.

"The Ukrainians, through no fault of their own, are an undefined entity. We don't even know what Ukraine is today, what the length of its borders is. This danger previously existed in the countries of the former Soviet bloc. Initially, these countries were accepted into NATO because NATO could guarantee these borders. Then the European Union took in other member states," Orbán emphasized.

The European Union Summit

The summit of the leaders of the European Union is taking place in Brussels on June 26 and 27.

Yesterday, 26 of the 27 EU member states expressed their readiness to continue providing financial assistance to Ukraine and to do so in the long term.

As expected, only Hungary did not support the decision. For now, this means that the opening of the first negotiation cluster will not take place until Budapest changes its position.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv expects a clear signal from the EU countries regarding the country's future membership in the bloc.