BUDAPEST – Hungary's foreign minister lashed out on Monday at U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to authorize Ukraine to use missiles supplied by Washington to strike deeper inside Russia, saying the move could serve to escalate the war and threaten the outbreak of a global conflict.
The decision allowing Kyiv to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, for attacks farther inside Russia comes as President Vladimir Putin positions North Korean troops along Ukraine’s northern border to try to reclaim hundreds of miles of territory seized by Ukrainian forces. The Kremlin has decried the move, warning that it would add “fuel to the fire” and further heighten international tensions.
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On Monday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, a fervent critic of Ukraine with close ties to Putin's government, said that Biden's decision was in contradiction to the will of voters who elected Donald Trump to the presidency earlier this month.
Szijjártó also slammed European Union leaders that continue to make efforts to provide support to Kyiv.
“One has the feeling that the pro-war political elites on both sides of the ocean are launching one last desperate, scalding attack on the new realities and the will of the people,” Szijjártó said.
Hungary's government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been the most hostile in the EU to Ukraine's ambitions to join the 27-nation bloc, and eventually the NATO military alliance. Orbán, the Kremlin's closest EU partner, has consistently opposed aid for Ukraine and threatened to block sanctions against Moscow for its war.
Szijjártó called Biden's authorization of Ukraine to use U.S. weapons “incredibly dangerous," and warned that it carried the risk of the war, which marks 1,000 days on Tuesday, spreading further.
“Then there is the demand of Ukrainians and the permissive opinion of some NATO member countries regarding the invitation of Ukraine to NATO," Szijjártó said. Such membership for Ukraine "would bring the real threat of World War III very close,” he said.
President-elect Trump, who takes office in about two months, has raised uncertainty about whether his administration would continue vital military support to Ukraine. He has also vowed to quickly end the war, but hasn't detailed how.
Hungary's government has long advocated for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict but avoids commenting on what such a move would mean for Ukraine's territorial integrity or the broader security implications for Europe.
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