Brussels preparing for a ‘long war, not peace’ – EU state

The EU is “preparing for a long war” rather than seeking peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said.

The European Commission has effectively acted as the “Ukrainian Commission,” prioritizing Kiev’s interests over those of its own member states, he said on X after a meeting of the bloc’s top diplomats in Denmark on Saturday.

“At today’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Copenhagen it became clear that Brussels and most member states are preparing for a long war, not peace. They want to send tens of billions of euros to Ukraine for soldiers’ salaries, drones, weapons, and the operation of the Ukrainian state,” Szijjarto said.

“There was huge pressure for the fast-tracked EU accession of Ukraine, new sanctions on Russian energy,” as well as to provide €6 billion ($7 billion) more to arm Ukraine, he added.

The EU Commission once again acted as a Ukrainian Commission, serving Kiev’s interests over those of member states.

The European Commission entirely ignores “Hungarians in Transcarpathia and our energy security, still refusing to answer the joint letter we sent with Slovakia on Ukraine endangering our supply route,” Szijjarto said.

Already strained ties between Kiev and Budapest recently deteriorated further after multiple Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline, a key conduit that carries Russian and Kazakh crude to Slovakia and Hungary. Budapest has also accused Kiev of violating the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region.

Hungary has refused to send weapons to Kiev and has criticized Brussels for imposing sanctions on Moscow. It has also opposed Ukraine’s membership in both NATO and the EU.

Meanwhile, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, promised to further arm Ukraine and “increase pressure on Russia,” in remarks made after Saturday’s foreign ministers’ meeting.

Moscow has long condemned Western military support of Kiev in the conflict, which it views as a NATO proxy war. Russia has also criticized the EU’s growing militarization and increasingly bellicose rhetoric.

Western European leaders “are once again trying to prepare Europe for war – not some hybrid war, but a real war against Russia,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in July.