Orban demands EU to stop mobilization in Ukraine
15 July 2025 06:46
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that the Hungarian government is “knocking on the door” of Brussels demanding that the European Union “take action” against “forced conscription” in Ukraine. He said this in a conversation with a journalist from the Hungarian newspaper Origo, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Orban’s comment was made in response to a question about the death of a citizen of Hungary and Ukraine, Jozsef Shebeshtyen. Hungary claims that the man died because of beatings in the TCC.
“You can’t make speeches about Ukraine’s suitability for membership in the European Union, and the next day bury people who are beaten to death during forced conscription,” he said.
According to him, the Hungarian government keeps track of how many Hungarians have been mobilized into the Ukrainian army, and knows how many of them died in the war, and can help their families.
According to Orban, it is unacceptable for people to be beaten to death in a country at war, and if the victim is a citizen of an EU member state, Brussels cannot remain silent.
In addition, Orban proposed to apply a multi-stage approach to Ukraine: first, to achieve a ceasefire, and then to conclude an economic agreement and an arms limitation treaty with Russia, after which a strategic agreement between the EU and Ukraine without the latter’s membership should be approved, Origo reports.
“We must immediately agree with the Russians, after a peace treaty or a ceasefire, whether Russia will participate in the European economy, for example, whether energy and raw materials will come from there, and whether we will participate in their economy. We also have to agree on arms limitation,” the Hungarian prime minister explained.
Last week, Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary, Fedir Shandor, was summoned to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry because of the death of a Ukrainian soldier of Hungarian nationality, which allegedly “occurred as a result of a beating during mobilization.” In turn, the Ukrainian side stated that the deceased Yosyp Shebeshten was a citizen of Ukraine. According to the forensic report, the cause of his death was a pulmonary embolism.
After that, Hungarian President Tamás Szuik wrote a letter to the family of József Shebeshten, in which he noted that the life of a Hungarian “is a unique value for our people.”
