Putin’s NATO ally delivers sharp critique of Russian military

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has warned his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, about his chances of defeating Kyiv in its war against Ukraine.

Ever since Putin launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine in February 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which Hungary is a part of, has stood by Ukraine and denounced Russia’s “brutal and unlawful war of aggression.” This has put Orbán in a tough spot, given that Hungary has maintained ties with Russia.

During a radio interview on Friday, Orbán admitted that his ally may be in way over his head as the Russia-Ukraine war rages on. “If the Russians were strong enough to defeat the Ukrainians in one go, they would have been defeated, but that’s not what we’re seeing,” Orbán said.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian government via online form, as well as Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Orbán’s office via email for comment.

Russia failed to take Ukraine’s capital city after the invasion began. Kyiv’s troops put up a surprisingly good fight in the early stages of the war and while they have been struggling for months as their weapons stocks dwindled, new hope has been sparked with Congress‘ approval of about $61 billion in Ukrainian aid last month.

However, it will still take some time for Ukraine’s weapons stock to replenish. In the meantime, Russia has intensified its offensive in northeastern Ukraine.

On Thursday, a missile attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed at least seven civilians and injured at least 20 more people, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s ministry of defense said on Friday that Russian forces had lost 1,240 personnel, 42 artillery systems, 27 armored combat vehicles and 13 tanks in the past day.

One question many people have been asking since the war began is whether Putin, if successful in Ukraine, would go after other sovereign nations, potentially NATO countries.

“NATO’s strength is not comparable to Ukraine’s. A hundredfold, maybe a thousandfold, so I don’t think it’s logical to assume that Russia, who can’t even deal with Ukraine, will suddenly come and catch the whole Western world,” Orbán said on Friday.

If Putin did try to invade a NATO country, he would risk war with all 32 member states, including Hungary, as part of Article 5 of the treaty. However, Putin said in December 2023 that Moscow has “no interest” in fighting NATO.

Updated 5/24/24, 1:10 p.m. ET: The headline was updated.