BUDAPEST – Peter Magyar, a prominent Hungarian opposition politician and the main challenger to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, delivered aid on Wednesday to the Kyiv children’s hospital that was severely damaged during recent Russian airstrikes.
Magyar’s Tisza party successfully raised around 15 million forints ($41,276.83) and gathered medical supplies and food donations from the Hungarian public. “This was a sudden decision after we saw the brutal Russian missile attack,” Magyar stated to reporters before his departure for Kyiv.
On Tuesday, a U.N. rights mission reported a “high likelihood” that Kyiv’s main children’s hospital suffered a direct hit from a Russian missile. The Kremlin, without providing evidence, claimed the hospital was struck by Ukrainian anti-missile fire.
Prime Minister Orban, known for his criticism of Western military aid to Ukraine and his notably warm relations with Russia among European Union leaders, visited both Kyiv and Moscow last week as part of a self-described “peace mission.” His meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin provoked a strong rebuke from some European allies.
“The prime minister is allowed to travel the world and pretend that he is creating peace […] but we believe in actions instead of flying around the world three times. We are different,” Magyar remarked. Magyar, whose party garnered nearly 30% of the vote in the European Parliament election in June, criticized Orban for not visiting Kyiv sooner. He attributed the delay to ongoing disagreements between Kyiv and Budapest over the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority.
While agreeing with the government that arms shipments to Ukraine should not pass through Hungary to protect the Hungarian community in Ukraine, Magyar acknowledged that other countries have the sovereign right to send arms to Ukraine.