Hungary's reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been incongruous with the attitudes of NATO and European Union member states since the beginning of the war. Hungary, a member of the European Union and NATO, was one of the few European states that did not provide military aid. However Hungary provides 40% of Ukraine's electricity import, which is by far the largest among the other exporting states. The Hungarian government received widespread criticism for its attitude to the war, both at home and abroad: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán condemned the war, but in many of his statements he tried to blame the target of the invasion Ukraine, the Western countries and their organizations, and his political opposition instead of Russia for the prolongation of the war and its economic consequences.
The Hungarian government behaved in a contradictory manner during the invasion, and often expressed different views on certain proposals at home compared to its decisions in the EU and in the UN while abroad.
UN votes On February 28, 2022, the General Assembly of the United Nations opened its 11th emergency special session, which dealt with the topic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The General Assembly adopted six resolutions to be enacted until February 2023, with Hungary voting on all of them. +DecisionDateContentsHungary's voteES-11/102.03.2022Deplores Russia's invasion of Ukraine and demanded a full withdrawal of Russian forces and a reversal of its decision to recognise the self-declared People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.In favour ES-11/224.03.2022Reaffirms the UN's former commitments and obligations under its Charter, and reiterated its demand that Russia withdraw from Ukraine's recognized sovereign territory; it also expressed grave concern over and condemned attacks on civilian populations and infrastructure.In favour ES-11/304.07.2022Suspends Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council due to the state's serious and systematic human rights violations.In favour ES-11/412.10.2022Declares the Russian referendums in the Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions invalid and illegal, calling on all countries not to recognize the Russian annexation of the territories.In favour ES-11/514.11.2022Calls on Russia to pay war reparations to Ukraine.In favour ES-11/623.02.2023Calls for the establishment of a just and lasting peace in Ukraine along the lines of the United Nations Charter, with full respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity.In favour
Aid, handling the refugee situation
Aid packages The government of Hungary is one of the countries in the European Union that does not supply self-defense military equipment to Ukraine, nor does it allow military equipment sent by other member states to pass through the country. The opposition repeatedly criticized the government for this "swing policy".
On February 27, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced at a joint press conference with the governor of Transcarpathia, Viktor Mikita, that Hungary would help Ukraine with nearly 30,000 tons of food and fuel in order to alleviate the humanitarian disaster. On March 2, Viktor Orbán announced one of the largest humanitarian actions in the country's history, through which the nation would initially send HUF 600 million worth of food, hygiene equipment, and childcare products to Ukraine as humanitarian aid. The Bridge to Subcarpathian program created by the government and announced on February 26 came into operation on March 5. Callers to the national helpline number 1357 were able to support the coalition for the Subcarpathian Bridge with HUF 500 per call. The Hungarian Catholic Charity, the Hungarian Maltese Charity, the Hungarian Ecumenical Charity, the Hungarian Reformed Charity, the Baptist Charity Foundation, and the Hungarian Red Cross also participated in the program.
On December 6, at Ecofin, the EU finance ministers' council, only Hungary did not vote in favor of the decision on to transfer an aid fund to Ukraine. Hungary was the only nation to veto the decision since the outbreak of the war. According to expert on Russian topics András Rácz, the refusal to vote in favor was a serious mistake both diplomatically and professionally. The Hungarian government attempted to deny these actions in the domestic media, with the Ministry of Finance stating that: "Contrary to the erroneous news published in the press today, the 18 billion euro support of Ukraine was not on the agenda at the Ecofin meeting held on 12.06.2022. All such claims are false.” Later, both Orbán and Péter Szijjártó denied the news about this. At the same time, the move was clearly evaluated as a veto in the press of foreign nations. While analysts generally stated that the proposed decision was less about the granting of the aid itself and more about the establishment of its financial conditions, the Hungarian veto prevented this as well.
Ukrainian refugees in Hungary
Several NGOs and private individuals provided assistance to Ukrainian refugees arriving in Hungary, especially at the border and at the capital's train stations. In the meantime, the government made several images and videos about helping the refugees with Orbán as one of the central figures involved. Both Ukrainian refugees and the border settlements they arrived at, reported that they did not receive significant state help with coordinating their work. Many villages had to organize many aspects of the refugee intake themselves and were forced to solve the needs of families, the elderly, small children or pregnant women on their own. The Hungarian government promised help to the refugees staying in Hungary, even though less than one percent of surveyed refugees stated they wanted to stay in Hungary. When asked, the government did not specify how they planned to help. The question of testing refugees for COVID-19 also arose, to which the Hungarian government only announced operational measures later. On March 13, Péter Szijjártó made several announcements regarding the support for refugees who arrived in Hungary: he explained that employers who employ refugees from Ukraine and who take care of their long-term placement, accommodation, and transit to their workplace would receive financial support: HUF 60,000 per employed refugee per month, and an additional HUF 12,000 for their children. Among the additional measures announced by the government, the border crossing was made open for 24 hours per day to move through the most refugees as soon as possible, the creation of help points in the settlements along the border, and the provision of 24-hour medical care and COVID-19 screening in several settlements.
The Disaster Management Agency organized accommodation for displaced people who needed it. Furthermore, Hungary has assured that if someone requested refugee status, applications could be submitted at collection points and customer services in Hungarian cities. Hungarian State Railways began running special trains for displaced people, and provided free tickets to those in need. Volánbusz also launched several special bus systems to transport refugees. Hungary provided HUF 1.3 billion in support to large aid organizations. The government created the humanitarian council, with the aim of coordinating the work of aid organizations, collecting donations and delivering them to those affected, and a special working group to help refugees who wanted to find employment. However, at the Budapest Nyugati railway station, the support promised by the government was barely perceptible, and the aid of the refugees was still mainly carried out by civilians. On March 21, the government finally abolished the civilian-initiated care facilities at the train stations and directed all newly arriving refugees to the SYMA Sports and Conference Centre, where they continued to receive similar care. The refugees were brought to the facility by buses from the Kőbánya upper railway station. According to State Secretary István György, the government decided only three weeks after the outbreak of the war to establish the transit waiting room at the sports hall because the expected increase in the number of refugees required a higher capacity facility. He thanked the civilians for their work up to that point. According to György, the government did performed their promised tasks at the railway stations prior to the relocation and referred to organizations that help their work as partners, despite civilians stating that they did almost everything for most of the period.
Prisoners of war in Hungary According to an announcement by the Russian Orthodox Church on June 8, 2023, some Transcarpathian soldiers fighting for Ukraine and captured by Russia were sent to Hungary, although the Ukrainian side claimed that they were not informed about this. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén later stated that the transfer was a positive gesture of the Russian Orthodox Church towards Hungary, and that the soldiers owed their freedom to it, and that it was "his human and patriotic duty." It was questionable to outside observers whether the prisoners of war were legally staying in Hungary. Because of the incident, Ukraine contacted the Hungarian foreign affairs office after not knowing about the handover, and called the Hungarian embassy's charge d'affaires. According to a Ukrainian statement, after the failure to notify Ukraine, suspicion arose in Ukraine that Russia intended to use the nebulous release of the prisoners for anti-Ukrainian propaganda with Hungarian cooperation. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu denied that Russia had handed over prisoners of war to Hungary. According to later reports, Semjén managed this extradition on the Hungarian side alone without notifying the Hungarian government, which led to internal conflicts.
According to Ukrainska Pravda on June 16, Oleh Kotenko, the Ukrainian commissioner responsible for missing persons, obtained information about the prisoners of war. At the same time, even days later, Ukraine voiced its displeasure that it still could not contact the prisoners of war and that the Hungarian foreign ministry did not respond to its request. As a result, Ukrainian officials accused Hungary of lying about the incident. In the meantime, the government announced that the eleven soldiers were no longer prisoners of war by law, and that they could go wherever they want. After the incident, the European Commission also started an inquiry into the situation and called on Hungary to clarify details. The case was further complicated when the Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov stated that Hungary applied to the Russians for the prisoners of war, who were selected on the basis of a list, but the surrendered prisoners could not move freely in Hungary either and were kept in isolation, where they could not be taken contact with Ukraine. According to Yusov, Ukraine knew about the planned action, but the Hungarian side denied that it was preparing for such an act when asked about it. Three soldiers were released, which were confirmed by pictures of the released soldiers. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó commented on the case: "I would like to make it clear again that there was contact between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, as a result of which eleven former prisoners of war arrived in Hungary. We didn't oppose this, of course, why would we oppose it?" Szijjártó also denied that the government had participated in the extradition (although it was apparently aware of it) and that the former prisoners of war could not have moved freely. According to Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, they had no obligation to notify Ukraine, because the soldiers did not come to Hungary as prisoners of war, but as free people.
Reactions of the Hungarian government