"I have been hearing for months now at Foreign Ministers' Councils that the Ukrainians have been trying to gain a position on the battlefield from which they could start negotiations in a more favorable way. In the recent weeks and a couple of months, it has become clear to everyone that there was no such scenario, and if there was, it has failed. Time is clearly on Russia's side, the Russians are successful on the battlefield. The later there is a ceasefire and negotiations begin, the worse it will be for Ukraine," Szijjarto told Hungary's Kossuth Radio.
NATO is a defensive alliance, not an offensive one, the Hungarian foreign minister said, adding that it did not have a mission to attack anyone.
"Therefore, I sincerely hope that all NATO countries will be able to behave responsibly in the period ahead. The statements that Western European politicians have made one after another in the past are extremely irresponsible and dangerous, also because in such a tense situation not only actions are of striking importance, but words as well," the top diplomat added.
Budapest, since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, has been consistently calling for a ceasefire and peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and opposed sanctions on Russian energy. In March 2022, Hungary's parliament banned the delivery of weapons to Ukraine from the country's soil.