Hungary rules out Ukraine's NATO membership, warns of World War III risk

Hungary's agenda does not include Ukraine's accession to NATO, as this would lead to a direct confrontation between the alliance and Russia, potentially resulting in a World War III, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

In an interview with Sputnik, Szijjarto noted that since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Budapest has drawn red lines — one of them is that it is necessary to "do our best and utmost in order to avoid any form of direct confrontation between NATO and Russia," News.Az reports.

"So in case Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, that would mean a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. And that would mean a Third World War. We just simply want to avoid that. This is [why] for us it's a non-existing issue on the agenda," the Hungarian FM said.

According to the minister, most of his colleagues from NATO countries, in conversations with Ukrainian representatives, talk about Kiev's possible accession to the alliance, but in a closed circle they admit that this is impossible.

News.Az