OUR Ukraine today she protested to her ambassador Hungary for “disparaging” comments by the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban and called on Budapest to stop the so-called anti-Ukrainian rhetoric.

The Hungarian ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry after his spokesman said last week that Orban told reporters that Ukraine was a buffer zone and compared it to Afghanistan.

Ambassador Istvan Izjarto filed a “strong protest against recent disparaging statements by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban,” the agency said in a statement.

“The Hungarian diplomat was stressed that the anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, which has been heard in the Hungarian leadership for a long time, is absolutely unacceptable and causes serious damage to Ukrainian-Hungarian relations.”

In a statement, the ministry added: “The Hungarian side called for a stop to this negative trend in order to avoid irreparable consequences for relations between the two countries.”

Hungary has criticized European Union sanctions against Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, saying they have failed to effectively weaken Moscow and risk devastating the European economy, and decided last year not to send weapons to Ukraine.

Kyiv protested in Hungary last year when Orban showed up to a football match wearing a scarf that he said portrayed part of Ukrainian territory as part of Hungary.

The two countries have also clashed in recent years over what Hungary called a restriction on the right of Hungarians living in Ukraine to use their mother tongue, especially in education, after Ukraine passed a law in 2017 to restrict the use of minority languages ​​in schools. .