Magyar's Top Five Statements
- 14.04.2026, 17:02
The rhetoric of Hungary's future prime minister diverges from Orban's statements.
The head of the Tisza party Peter Magyar, who won Hungary's parliamentary elections, said Ukraine was a victim of Russian aggression and promised to urge Vladimir Putin to stop the war if a telephone conversation between the two took place. He also expressed his intention to unblock a European Union loan to Kiev. Such rhetoric differs significantly from statements by Hungary's outgoing prime minister Viktor Orban, who was seen as Russia's main ally in Europe, BBC reported.
About talking to Putin
What Magyar said:
"If Vladimir Putin calls, I will pick up the phone. I don't think that will happen, and I won't call him myself. But if we talk, I will say to him, 'Please, after four years, stop the killing and stop this war, which has no meaning.' Including for Russia, because tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Russians have also died, families have been destroyed. Including Russian-speaking people in Ukraine are dying: they are being killed, their cities are being bombed, they are being raped, and so on." That's what I would say to him. I think it would be a very short conversation. I'm afraid he wouldn't heed my advice. But I hope that he will be forced to stop the war."
Why it matters:
The next Hungarian prime minister speaks very differently about the war in Ukraine than Viktor Orban, who has traveled regularly to Moscow and has been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin. Orban last visited the Russian capital in the fall of 2025; before that he went there in July 2024.
As explained by BBC correspondent Sviatoslav Khomenko, Viktor Orban made Ukraine and its president Vladimir Zelensky the main heroes of his election campaign. He claimed that the Ukrainian authorities were seeking to destroy Hungary and drag it into war.
According to the election results, such rhetoric did not appeal to a significant part of Hungarian voters. At rallies of the Tisza party, one could often hear chanting the slogan "Russians, go home!" ("Ruszkik haza!"), which was first heard during the 1956 Hungarian revolution that was suppressed by the Soviets.
About the Budapest Memorandum and Ukraine as a "victim of war"
What Magyar said
"Everyone in Hungary knows that Ukraine is a victim of this war. And that based on the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, any Ukrainian government is obliged to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty. No one should dictate to them on what terms they should negotiate peace or sign a peace agreement [...]. We cannot ask any country to give up its territory. Such statements are a betrayal, and they were made by Fidesz politicians. I would ask them, what happens if Russia attacks Hungary? Which Hungarian regions are you willing to give up?"
Why it matters:
Although Orban insisted he wanted peace, he repeatedly repeated the thesis that it was "Europe that decided to start a war in Ukraine."
Late last year, Hungary's outgoing prime minister also said that Moscow should "keep for itself" some of the Ukrainian territory it has occupied and that Ukraine as a whole should become a "buffer state" between Russia and Europe.
Magyar's appeal to statements by Fidesz party politicians is a reference to the words of Balazs Orban, an adviser to Viktor Orban (they are not related), uttered in September 2024. Orban said at the time that if Russia attacked Hungary, his country would not defend itself the way Ukraine does now, explaining that this was because of the lessons Hungary learned after the events of 1956.
"(After the events of 1956) we realized that we have to be careful, we have to treat very precious Hungarian lives with great care. They should not just be thrown to others," he said. Now Hungarians' resistance to the Russian army, he said, would be "irresponsible." Balázs Orbán's statement then caused an uproar in Hungarian society.
The Hungarian government under Orbán's leadership has also provided no military aid to Ukraine and blocked the allocation of European Union support to it. Budapest has also repeatedly obstructed the imposition of sanctions against Russia, but each time agreed to lift its veto in exchange for some concessions from Brussels.
For the entire time of the full-scale war, Orban has visited Kiev only once - in the summer of 2024, when Hungary held the EU presidency. Until then, the Hungarian prime minister visited Ukraine only in 2012.
When talking about the Budapest Memorandum, Magyar is referring to the document signed in the Hungarian capital, according to which Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the US and the UK.
About the European loan to Ukraine
What exactly Magyar said:
"Regarding the €90 billion loan to Ukraine. I admittedly don't understand at all what exactly there is to discuss here, because back in December, during the European Council meeting, Viktor Orban was given the option not to participate in this, as were some other countries. The European Council decided that Hungary, and possibly Slovakia and the Czech Republic, would not commit to this $90 billion loan. This does not apply to our countries, thus it was approved. I completely do not understand this and will consult with European leaders to understand why this issue needs to be discussed now. My personal opinion is that Hungary should stay out of this issue. Hungary is in a very difficult financial situation."
Why it matters:
The European Union agreed a $90 billion loan to Ukraine at a summit in December 2025.
EU countries decided to finance Kiev on their own after they failed to agree on the use of frozen Russian assets for this purpose (largely over the objections of Belgium, which holds most of the Russian Central Bank's funds and feared the risks associated with confiscation).
As a compromise (to avoid a veto), the EU allowed Hungary and other disgruntled countries not to participate in Ukraine's financing, but only to approve it. Magyar confirmed after his victory that Hungary does not intend to commit to the loan.
The European loan is vital for Ukraine because President Donald Trump has stopped sending Kiev U.S. funds. Before he came to power, it was the U.S. that funded most of Ukraine's basic military and civilian needs.
But this spring Hungary vetoed the loan to Ukraine. It said Kiev could only receive the funds if it resumed pumping Russian crude to Hungary through the Druzhba oil pipeline.
Kiev insists the pipeline was damaged in a Russian drone strike in January and needs time to be restored. But Hungary accused the Ukrainian authorities of deliberately delaying the reopening of Druzhba.
On Ukraine's EU membership
What Magyar said:
"From the very beginning we have said that we do not support Ukraine's accelerated accession to the EU. It would be impossible for a country that is at war to join the EU. All countries joining the EU should go through the same process. They have to negotiate all the points, and if Ukraine achieves that, there will be a referendum in Hungary on whether the EU should accept it. And that will not happen in the near future."
Why it matters:
Ukraine would like to become a member of the European Union as soon as possible and sees it as one of the most important guarantees of its security after the end of the war. Volodymyr Zelensky said he would like to fix a possible date for EU membership in 2027 or 2028.
Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, has however repeatedly said it opposes Ukraine's accession to the European Union. In the summer of 2025, Fidesz reported that it held a nationwide consultation on the issue - and 95% of participants opposed Ukraine's European integration.
The opposition, however, recalled that there were no independent observers at these "consultations," people could vote online, and the resulting turnout was quite low.
The New Union Post writes that according to a sociological survey conducted in April 2025, 47% of respondents were in favor of Ukraine joining the EU, while 46% were against.
On the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine
What Magyar said:
"For Ukraine, a condition for establishing relations will be to determine the rights of the Hungarian minority that lives there. I think it is clear to Ukrainian leaders that the issue of language rights, cultural rights and various aspects of their lives need to be resolved. Frankly speaking, I do not understand why this has not happened so far, because both the Ukrainian and Hungarian sides had such intentions, but for some reason they could never reach an understanding. The Hungarians who live there are not asking for much, they just want to get the rights they had 10-15 years ago so that they don't have to live in fear. So that Hungarian children don't have to leave if they want to study in Hungarian, if they want to use their native language."
Why this is important:
The vast majority of Ukrainian Hungarians live in the Transcarpathian region. According to local administration estimates, the number of this community is now about 80,000 people. However, according to the 2001 census, there were about 150,000 Hungarians living in Transcarpathia, who made up about 12% of the region's population.
Viktor Orban has constantly accused Ukraine of intending to "turn Hungarian schools into Ukrainian schools, and if that doesn't work, to close them down."
The conflict between Kiev and Budapest over the issue of the Hungarian minority has been ongoing since 2017, when Ukraine adopted a new law on education. According to it, education in the country's secondary schools is conducted exclusively in the state language, i.e. Ukrainian.
In 2023, amid consultations with the EU on accession and Hungary's claims, Ukraine's parliament passed amendments to the law that established that ethnic groups are guaranteed the right to education in the language of national minorities.
Ukraine and Hungary, however, continue to consult over the rights of the Hungarian minority. Last October, the Ukrainian government said it had handed Budapest a new draft education law that addresses five of the eleven demands put forward by the Hungarian side.