Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently stated that Ukraine would not become a member of the European Union due to the ongoing war. “As a country bordering Ukraine, we believe that accepting Ukraine means accepting the war. We have never admitted a country at war. And there are serious reasons for that,” – he concluded.
As is well known, there are unresolved issues between Ukraine and Hungary regarding the rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia, particularly concerning the language of instruction in schools and universities.
The crisis in bilateral relations, ongoing since 2017, has been exploited by Viktor Orban to pressure the EU in exchange for financial concessions in return for supporting Ukraine and approving sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine has also become a frequent subject in Orban’s domestic political narrative. During the 2022 parliamentary elections, Orbán’s Fidesz party portrayed Ukraine as a scapegoat for Hungary’s economic difficulties. The party may revive this narrative as it prepares for the 2026 elections. Recent developments—such as the downing of a Ukrainian drone near the border and the expulsion of three Ukrainian diplomats under espionage accusations—point in that direction. The latter appears to have been a response to the Ukrainian Security Service’s detention of two Hungarian intelligence agents in Zakarpattia. Meanwhile, Hungary’s pro-government media portrayed the incident as a “secret service war” between Ukraine and Hungary.
Hungary has been blocking the opening of EU accession negotiation clusters for Ukraine since early 2025. Amid this obstruction, the Orban government launched a consultative referendum on Ukraine’s EU membership, running from April to June. The ballot lists seven supposed threats that Ukraine’s EU accession would pose to Hungary.
Photo: facebook.com/orbanviktor): facebook.com/orbanviktor/
Viktor Orban, during his 15 years in power, has built a loyal media empire that until recently secured his party’s electoral dominance. Its core audiences include not only Fidesz voters but also ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries: Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania.
In light of the renewed deterioration in Budapest-Kyiv relations, Dorka Takacsy, a researcher at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, commented for the Hybrid Warfare Analytical Group on Orban’s information tactics regarding Ukraine.
“Orban is now facing his greatest political challenge in the past 15 years. It’s evident that Orban and his inner circle are running out of tools to secure victory in the next parliamentary elections in April 2026. Hungary’s national budget is in a disastrous state,” – Takacsy noted.
According to her, Ukraine has become a security-themed issue that Orban is weaponizing in the information space: “Now Orban and his circle have added security-based ‘arguments’ to the Ukraine issue and are portraying it as a life-or-death dilemma for the Hungarian nation. They claim that Ukraine’s accession to the EU would trigger Hungary’s immediate economic collapse and lead to a breakdown in healthcare and other social welfare systems.”
“These claims are either barely related to reality or completely untrue. Unfortunately, people consume this kind of information. Why does this propaganda work so well? Perhaps because most Hungarians know very little about how the EU functions, how the accession process works, or even about Ukraine,” – researcher concluded.
Hybrid Warfare Analytical Group
