Hungary has been skeptical of adding new NATO members, while being apologist for Russia and Vladimir Putin, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned.
In an interview with Finnish, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian journalists, Zelenskyy questioned how Hungary's positions can comport with NATO priorities when it is siding with Russia and potentially against the alliance.
"How to resolve the dispute with Budapest? The question is only Budapest's desire." Zelenskyy told reporters in an interview published Saturday, as translated by Google. "It seems to me that there is a political entanglement of the political elites in Hungary.
"It is a very strange situation. Can a NATO country be for Russia and against NATO?"
Hungary is dangerously not siding with NATO in its ties to Russia amid Putin's invasion of Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy.
"I believe that this is inappropriate behavior," he told reporters. "I am speaking my subjective opinion. An ally is not just a word; it is a meaning. It is a union of states with the same view on security, on values. They treat certain moments differently, but there is an alliance agreement, which protect each other and the respective values.
"And if all the allies say that Russia calls us an enemy, we must put Russia in its place, then one country cannot say: 'No, Russia is our ally,'" he continued. "This cannot be. So you are no longer an ally of the alliance."
Hungary has been holding out against NATO additions of late, and Zelenskyy warns that Ukraine's eventual entrance into the alliance should not be impacted by Hungary's allegiances.
"And, therefore, if you [are a] de jure ally, but de facto working against it, you should not advise Ukraine to join NATO or not — and you should not create obstacles," Zelenskyy added.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been critical of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, during which he urged NATO to add Ukraine to the Western alliance.
Orban has considered Ukraine "financially nonexistent," saying the country cannot stand without support worldwide and that without outside funding, "the war will end immediately."