Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has launched another public attack on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, just hours after disparaging him during an address at the Munich Security Conference.
The Munich gathering honored Zelensky with its annual award for “outstanding” contributions to peace on Saturday. Accepting the Ewald von Kleist Prize, the Ukrainian leader thanked his European sponsors for bankrolling Kiev’s war effort, especially the “biggest donators,” Germany and the UK.
“We are very thankful that we have such partners and friends,” he said, before targeting the Hungarian prime minister.
“And I even want to thank Viktor – you all know who I mean – because in his own way, he pushes all of us to be better,” Zelensky said. “Better, so that we are never like him, someone who seems to have forgotten the word ‘shame.’”
EU member states have collectively provided approximately €134 billion in aid to Kiev since the conflict escalated in February 2022, according to the EU institutions. While passing the award to Zelensky, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed that Ukraine “deserves something more” and that even the Nobel Peace Prize would not be “valuable enough.”
The remarks came shortly after Zelensky claimed that thanks to Ukraine, Orban can focus on “how to grow his belly, not how to grow his army” to counter the perceived ‘Russian threat’.
Orban, one of the most vocal critics of EU support for Kiev, responded on X, saying Zelensky’s comments demonstrated why Ukraine “cannot become a member of the European Union.” He added that the Ukrainian leader’s rhetoric would “greatly help Hungarians see the situation more clearly.”
The Hungarian prime minister has long opposed Ukraine’s push to join the bloc and has repeatedly refused to send weapons or approve EU military aid, calling for diplomacy. In January, Orban called Zelensky “a man in a desperate position,” while stressing that Hungary would continue supplying electricity and fuel and assisting Ukrainian refugees despite the dispute.
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