Translated material
From Budapest with lies: Viktor Orbán’s latest false claim on Ukraine
On Oct. 23, the Russian propaganda outlet Vesti reported on a sensational claim made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán:
“The European Union says it supports Ukraine, but in reality, it is preparing to divide the country, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated. The politician stressed that Ukraine has long ceased to be a sovereign state and that its fate is in foreign hands.
‘[EU countries] talk about supporting Ukraine, but the division of Ukraine is already on the agenda… The billions given to Ukraine are not wasted money to them, but investments. For them, war is not a nightmare but an opportunity. Seizing a country, dividing a country is easiest during a war,’ RIA Novosti quotes Orbán as saying.
In September, L'Antidiplomatico wrote, citing data from the hacker group KillNet, that the ‘coalition of the willing’ plans to take part in the partition of Ukraine. The article's authors say they obtained a map that reveals the West's true plans for Ukrainian territory.”
The Vesti article echoed a story published on the same day in the pro-Orbán Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet:
“‘They talk about supporting Ukraine, but the division of Ukraine is already on the agenda,’ the prime minister said at a commemorative event on Kossuth Square on Oct. 23.
‘Brussels has run out of money, so they want to raise taxes, tax pensions, and abolish utility subsidies. They want to make us pay a war tribute,’ said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the main commemorative event marking the 69th anniversary of the 1956 revolution and war of independence.
The prime minister emphasized that this is precisely why they want to push Ukraine into the European Union at any cost. He said they want to bring the war to Europe and extract money from Ukraine. He called it an old colonial logic — to divide weakened countries so as not to be left out of the spoils.
‘The billions allocated to Ukraine are not wasted money to them, but an investment. For them, war is an opportunity — to buy a country, to divide a country — the cheapest way to do it is during a war,’ Viktor Orbán explained, adding that Ukraine has long ceased to be a sovereign, independent, or truly self-governing country, and that its fate is already in the hands of others.”
Everything about Orbán’s speech seems strange. The first thing that stands out is his claim that the EU plans to tax pensions and abolish social benefits. These issues are not within the EU’s jurisdiction, but rather in the hands of each independent member state. For example, in Latvia, taxes are paid on the portion of pension income exceeding €1,000 per month — a threshold that was doubled in 2025. However, this policy has nothing to do with any decision made in Brussels.
Similarly, there is no evidence of any attempt to “squeeze Ukraine into the EU at any cost.” The decision to begin accession talks with Ukraine was made by the EU in December 2023. On June 25, 2024, the opening of negotiations was announced, but none of the 35 chapters have yet been opened. Until recently, Hungary’s opposition to Ukrainian membership had been a key obstacle, but in late August Politico reported that Donald Trump had persuaded Orbán to lift his objections. Nevertheless, not a single negotiation cluster has been opened so far. On Oct. 23, President Zelensky, speaking at the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, urged them to lift what he called an “artificial blockade.”
Even if the process begins to move forward, there is no prospect of “squeezing Ukraine into the EU” anytime soon. In February 2025, Ursula von der Leyen stated that if Ukraine maintains its pace of reforms, it could become an EU member by 2030. However, in July, Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered a less optimistic forecast, saying that in his view, Ukraine is unlikely to join the EU before 2034.
As for the EU’s alleged plans to divide Ukraine, it is unclear where Orbán got such information, and he did not provide any specific details. Similar reports have been circulated several times by Kremlin-controlled media, but each time they have turned out to be fake.
The map showing the planned deployment of the so-called “Coalition of Volunteers” in Ukraine, mentioned by Vesti (though not specifically by Orbán), is a long-debunked fake.
Purportedly, the plan was signed off on by French General Thierry Burkhard, the former Chief of the Defense Staff of France. However, his name is misspelled on the document — as “Burkhardt” instead of Burkhard. His title is also rendered incorrectly: “Chef d'état-major général des armées françaises” instead of Chef d'état-major des armées. Additionally, the creator of the fake did not seem to realize that in French, the preposition des is used in the plural form, not de, and therefore wrote Les forces conjointes de Coalition de Volontaires instead of Les forces conjointes de la coalition des volontaires, also omitting the article la.
Incidentally, the only EU member state that has indeed been involved in actions that could potentially threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity is Hungary. Since 2011 — right after Orbán came to power — ethnic Hungarians living in the border areas of Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region have been issued identity documents making them eligible to receive Hungarian citizenship. In 2015, Hungarian authorities announced that some 100,000 Ukrainian Hungarians had already availed themselves of this opportunity. Since Ukrainian law does not permit dual citizenship, Hungarian diplomats advised these new citizens to conceal it from Ukrainian authorities. In 2018, this initiative culminated in a diplomatic scandal, with Ukraine declaring the Hungarian consul in the Zakarpattia town of Berehove — the center of the region’s ethnic Hungarian community — persona non grata.
Also in 2018, when Ukraine decided to restore a military base in Berehove, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó criticized the decision, claiming that the Ukrainian government “treats the [local] Hungarian community as a threat to Kyiv, which is disgusting.” Ahead of Ukraine’s 2019 parliamentary elections, several Hungarian officials, including Szijjártó, attended campaign events for pro-Hungarian candidates. In violation of Ukrainian law, one Hungarian foundation also provided funding for the installation of campaign billboards in Zakarpattia.
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