Steven N.
It would simply be impossible for a normal person to imagine the level of evil that was brought to our land. That is why I call on you to raise the issue of solidarity in the defense of freedom, in the defense of humanity at the level of the European Union.
-said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an address to the Danish Parliament on Tuesday.
As he continued in his video message to Danish MPs:
There can be no Russian branches in Europe that split the EU from within, that are trying to help Russia make as much money as possible even now. Everyone knows very well who in the European Union opposes humanity and common sense. Who does nothing at all to help establish peace in Ukraine. This must stop, and Europe must stop listening to any excuses from official Budapest.
Following the Ukrainian President’s speech on Tuesday, he communicated on Telegram what he specifically expected EU nations to do: expand sanctions, end the import of Russian oil, ban trade with Russia, and close ports to Russian ships.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy addressed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán directly during the EU summit in Brussels, asking him if he knew what was happening in the besieged Ukrainian town of Mariupol:
And you hesitate whether to impose sanctions or not? And you hesitate whether to let weapons through or not? And you hesitate whether to trade with Russia or not? There is no time to hesitate. It’s time to decide already.
In response to this, the Hungarian government rejected the demands made by the Ukrainian President, saying they were contrary to Hungary’s interests.
Orbán’s press chief said that Zelenskyy’s first demand was for Hungary to support the extension of sanctions to the energy sector and not buy gas and oil from Russia, while his other request “was for Hungary to allow arms shipments to pass through the country, and to send weapons to Ukraine.”
Czech and Polish politicians have been sharply critical of the Hungarian Prime Minister in recent days, leading to the cancelation of the V4 defense summit planned to begin today in Budapest.
While other EU countries are also not restricting their energy imports from Russia for the time being, Orbán is the only leader talking about how his government does not want to punish Russia, states 444.
At the same time, Hungary voted with other EU member states that Russians who committed war crimes should be brought to justice at the International Criminal Court, but Orbán has not said anything at all about this publicly.
[444]
