Hungary Has Always Been a Nation of Freedom Fighters Throughout Our 1000-Year History, and Will Remain So

The prime minister responded on social media to a letter from former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko. Viktor Orban emphasized that Hungary still seeks friendship with Ukraine, but will not take part in the war. PM Orban also asked the former Ukrainian leader to make it clear to President Volodymyr Zelensky that threats will not work against Hungary.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: MTI / Prime Minister’s Communications Office / Akos Kaiser)

In a letter shared on social media, PM Orban responded to Yushchenko. In the letter, the prime minister asked the former Ukrainian president to explain to Zelensky that threats and what he described as state terrorism will not succeed.

According to PM Viktor Orban, Hungary continues to seek friendship, but we will not take part in the war
(Photo: Akos Kaiser/Prime Minister’s Office Communications Department)
 

We Hungarians have always been a nation of freedom fighters throughout our thousand-year history, and we will remain so. We are the nation that fought fearlessly for its freedom against the Ottoman armies, the troops of the Habsburgs, the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich, and the Red Army of the Soviet Union, in which the sons of many peoples once served. We continue this tradition today,

PM Orban wrote.

Reply to the open letter of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko

Dear Viktor,
My old friend,

We Hungarians have always been a nation of freedom fighters throughout our thousand-year history, and we will remain so. We are the nation that fought fearlessly for its freedom…

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) March 14, 2026

PM Orban also asked Yushchenko to make it clear to Zelensky that Hungary will not bend to threats or pressure.

Please warn your president: hands off the freedom of the Hungarians.

Please convince your president not to blackmail or threaten either my country or its leaders.

Hungarians are a free people. Your struggle for freedom does not entitle you to blackmail us or dictate terms to us,

Viktor Orban wrote.

"Please make your president understand that the state terrorism with which he blew up the Germans’ Nordstream gas pipeline will not work against Hungary."

"Let me remind you that when the war broke out, we welcomed your refugees. We gave them shelter, food, and safety,"

PM Orban told the ex-leader, noting: "I ordered the launch of Ukrainian-language schools for your children, something that you deny to Hungarians in Transcarpathia. It is a shame that today the national minority rights of Hungarians in Ukraine are narrower than they were in the old, bad days," he stressed.

I thank God that the country with which you are now at war is today not an enemy of either Hungary or the Hungarians, and we have no intention of changing that. We still wish to remain your friends, but we will not take part in your war. Therefore, I ask you to accept that we will send neither money, nor weapons, nor soldiers to your war,

PM Orban emphasized. He added: "I wish that your fratricidal war will not end with the fatal weakening of the Ukrainian state, and that we may return to the old spirit of Ukrainian-Hungarian friendship."

In closing PM Orban assured Yushchenko that if any foreign power were ever to threaten him or his family, the ex-president could rest assured that he could always count on him, and that there will always be a safe place for him in Hungary.

Cover photo: Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: MTI / Prime Minister’s Communications Office / Akos Kaiser)