NATO-member Hungary Not to Send Weapons to Ukraine

After giving into EU- member nations pressure and approving a $54 billion EU package of long-term aid to Ukraine, Hungary has reiterated it position on not supplying weapons to Kyiv.

Hungarian defence minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said on February 16, “Hungary continues not to send any weapons to Ukraine, and will not change this standpoint under any kind of pressure.”

Speaking at the 24th Hungarian Business Leaders Forum Financial Summit In connection with the development of the Hungarian armed forces, the minister of defence drew attention to the fact that in recent decades, "we have underestimated the possibility that any country may come under attack, and that “the security guarantees provided by NATO – an organization that functions drawing on the contributions of national forces – do not make sense without the development of the armed forces (of individual nations).”

Referring to the growth of the Hungarian armed forces, the minister said, first, the air defence has been brought up to a high level, followed by the formation of a heavy brigade, which is a NATO requirement as well. He added that Hungary has committed itself to the establishment of a major land-based armored force by 2028.

Since 2018, Hungary has been blocking ministerial-level political meetings between NATO and Ukraine to discuss the latter’s integration into the transatlantic military bloc as a sign of protest over Ukraine violating the human rights of its ethnic minorities, of which a significant number are Hungarians. Some observers have been calling Hungary the “Trojan Horse for Russia” within NATO.

Hungary has some 200 plus T72 Soviet-origin tanks and some 500 BTR-80 armored vehicles which its NATO allies want it to hand over to Ukraine in exchange for modern Western substitutes.