Orbán: Hungary has halted Ukraine's EU accession

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has claimed that the results of the so-called "referendum" on Ukraine’s EU membership, initiated by his government, have made it possible to halt Ukraine’s accession.

As reported by Telex, a Hungarian news portal, Orbán stated that Hungary "understands the Ukrainian people and sees their heroic struggle".

"We also see that they need help, but we want to provide it without destroying ourselves in the process. Ukraine’s EU membership would mean self-destruction for us. We would be immediately drawn into war with Russia, bringing it onto EU territory – and thus onto Hungarian territory," the Hungarian prime minister declared.

"Yesterday, thanks to more than two million votes in Voks2025, we stopped Ukraine’s accession to the European Union," he added.

Orbán also claimed that Ukraine, through no fault of its own, remains an "undefined entity".

"We don’t even know what Ukraine is today or where its borders lie. This danger existed with other countries from the former Soviet bloc too. That’s why they were first accepted into NATO, which could guarantee those borders. Only then did the EU admit them," he continued, adding that Ukraine cannot be admitted into NATO, as that would mean immediate war.

Recently, at the EU summit, all 26 other EU member states besides Hungary voiced their support for continuing accession talks with Ukraine and agreed to take note of the European Commission’s assessment that Ukraine is ready to open the Foundations negotiation cluster.

On 26 June, Orbán stated that the results of the so-called "referendum" had authorised him to speak out even more strongly against Ukraine’s EU membership. 

The Hungarian government announced the final results of the vote, claiming that 95% of participants opposed Ukraine’s accession.