The post claiming that Ukraine is at war with Russia because of the whim of London and that Orban is Ukraine’s greatest friend because only he insisted on negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow for stopping the war is untrue and manipulative on several grounds, writes Truthmeter.mk.
Under the content-sharing agreement between Truthmeter.mk and Meta.mk, we republish the text below:
We are fact-checking a post published on the social network Facebook (screenshot here) claiming that:
If the Ukrainians carefully think about it, they will realize that from all the EU bureaucracies, only the Hungarian leadership is concerned for them by not supporting them in the war against Russia due to the whim of London and calls for immediate unconditional negotiations while there is something to discuss. History will note that it wasn’t Merkel, but Orban was/is the best politician from the EU zone of the 21st century.
The announcement stated that ”other EU countries, except Hungary, support Ukraine in the war against Russia at the whim of London”, but in fact, it turns out that Ukraine is at war fulfilling London’s goals. Such a claim is untrue and manipulative. This frequent narrative of Russian propaganda is trying to find – in any possible way – justification for the invasion carried out by Russia on sovereign and democratic Ukraine. Not to lose territory Ukraine is forced into self-defence with no guarantees that Russia will be satisfied only with Ukraine and will not expand and continue its invasion of other sovereign states.
The EU and its Member-States strongly condemn Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Russia is the one that started the war on foreign territory. Contrary to what the fact-checked post states, Russia is waging war against Ukraine on Ukrainian territory, not the other way around. Hence, one cannot say that Ukraine is warring against Russia without mentioning that it was forced into a defensive war.
The post claims that Hungary calls for unconditional negotiations and that it is the only country that is concerned about Ukraine. However, stopping Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine has been the demand of all European states since February 2022. Since February 2022, the European Council and the Council of the EU have been meeting regularly to discuss the situation in Ukraine from different perspectives.
Russia must stop this atrocious war immediately. The European Union will stand by Ukraine with its steadfast support for as long as it takes, concluded the European Council in 2023.
EU leaders demanded on several occasions that Russia immediately cease its military actions, unconditionally withdraw all forces and military equipment from Ukraine and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. They emphasized the right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny and commended the people of Ukraine for their courage in defending their country.
In response to the military aggression, the EU has massively expanded sanctions against Russia, adding a significant number of persons and entities to the sanctions list, and by adopting unprecedented restrictive measures. The EU has shown unity and strength and has provided Ukraine with humanitarian, political, financial and military support.
On several occasions, the European Council condemned Russia’s indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure,, and urged Russia to stop the systematic missile strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. But that did not happen and they continued. The EU and its citizens stand in full solidarity with Ukraine and its people. The EU undertakes measures such as economic and financial support, humanitarian aid, support for the protection of civilians, military aid, acceptance of refugees, support in investigations and prosecution of war crimes, and support for the reconstruction of democratic Ukraine.
And the highest representative for Foreign affairs of the country (Bujar Osmani in the position of chairperson of the OSCE Mission), called for the war in Ukraine to stop and for Russia to retrieve, but that did not happen.
Due to all of the above-noted facts, the post fact-checked is assessed as partially untrue. It is not true that only Hungary and Viktor Orban called for peace and negotiations. All EU countries have been doing that for a long time now, but Russia is not withdrawing from Ukraine. The narrative that Ukraine is supported in warring against Russia is manipulative. On the contrary, Ukraine is supported in its defense from Russia, which has penetrated sovereign territory with armed forces and begun a large-scale military invasion that is still ongoing. Even the General Assembly of the United Nations called for the war in Ukraine to cease and demanded from Russia to immediately withdraw from Ukraine in line with the UN Charter. Therefore, it is not true that only Hungary has been calling for stopping the war. In addition, the part of the post claiming that ”the war is happening at the whim of London” is untrue. The United Kingdom did not start the military invasion, Russia did. The countries of the West sided with Ukraine and its right to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty, as a democratic state whose territory and people have been brutally attacked by the Russian side.
