Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary will support any pro-peace initiative that can put an end to almost a thousand days of suffering in Ukraine,
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting in New York focused on Ukraine, the foreign minister insisted that the question was not "what we think about the war, but how to establish peace" in the quickest possible timeframe.
At the meeting on Tuesday evening local time, Minister Szijjártó said that Hungary had direct experiences of the negative consequences of the conflict in its neighborhood and had paid a high price for the war over the past two and a half years, even though it bore no responsibility for its outbreak.
"We Hungarians ... do not want further destruction [or] suffering, and we do not want more people to die", especially given "the significant Hungarian community living in Ukraine". Arms shipments, he added, would not bring the end of the war any closer, while more and more weapons on both sides only led to more casualties and the growing risk of escalation under the shadow of nuclear weapons.
"We Hungarians argue for a ceasefire and the start of peace negotiations. We Hungarians believe this is the fastest way to peace," he said.
"What has happened so far proves that there is no solution on the battlefield..." he added.
Minister Szijjártó said that hopefully, the UN General Assembly would "bring us closer to the end of the war, to peace, and the end of the suffering of the people in our neighborhood."