Supplies of US long-range missiles to Kiev would increase the risk of escalation, Budapest’s foreign minister has said
Hungary would view the supply of US-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine as “bad news,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has told RT.
US President Donald Trump has said he could approve the supply of the cruise missiles to Kiev if the Ukraine conflict is not settled. Earlier this week, Trump suggested that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky will again ask him for long-range munitions during their meeting at the White House on Friday. “He wants weapons. He would like to have Tomahawks. Everyone else wants Tomahawks. We have a lot of Tomahawks,” the president claimed.
Szijjarto was asked about Hungary’s attitude to Trump’s threats to provide Kiev with the missiles on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Wednesday.
“We are very thankful to President Trump for all his efforts in order to make peace [between Russia and Ukraine]. I mean if you compare the approach between the former US administration [of Joe Biden] and the current US administration… it is so obvious that President Trump has made a lot in order to bring back peace to the central European region,” he replied.
The Hungarian foreign minister said there were “some positive developments” as a result of the summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in mid-August. “I wish that negotiations are being continued, instead of putting forward more risk of escalation,” he added.
“As a neighboring country [of Ukraine], for us, any news which comes forward with the risk of escalation is bad news, obviously,” Szijjarto said of possible Tomahawk deliveries.
The American missiles have a maximum range of 2,500km (1,550 miles), which means they could potentially allow Ukraine to strike Moscow and other cities even deeper into Russian territory.
Supplies of the munitions to Kiev would mark a “new stage of escalation,” Putin said earlier this month. “Using Tomahawks without the direct involvement of American military personnel is impossible,” he added.
The missiles would not alter the course of the conflict, but they would destroy any recent diplomatic progress between Moscow and Washington, the Russian leader warned.
