EU Considers Sending Military Advisors to Ukraine Amid Hungarian Opposition

The European Union is evaluating the possibility of sending military advisors directly to Ukraine as part of its existing training mission for Ukrainian servicemen. However, this move has encountered opposition from Hungary.

This was stated by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto following a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, as reported by “European Truth”.

Hungary opposes EU advisors in Ukraine

“They [the EU – ed.] want to send military advisors to Kyiv as part of a mission that was previously established to train Ukrainian soldiers,” – the Hungarian Foreign Minister declared.

He reminded that Hungary does not participate in this EU military mission and only supports it on the condition that the mission's activities take place outside of Ukraine. Szijjarto noted that conducting training for Ukrainian military personnel by EU instructors directly on Ukrainian territory poses “a serious risk of escalating the war.”

“For us, this is a red line,” – he added.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, during a press conference after the Council meeting, also confirmed that the topic of the training mission was discussed, although he did not disclose details regarding the possible deployment of advisors.

He reminded that the existing mission has already trained over 73,000 Ukrainian military personnel.

“Therefore, today we also discussed what more we can do regarding missions. Should we expand the mandate of our existing missions to also contribute to the security guarantees of the coalition of willing partners?” – Borrell asked, linking the potential expansion of the mission to the activities of the “coalition of the willing,” which is discussing additional support for Ukraine.

Hungary blocks the opening of the first negotiation chapter on Ukraine's path to the EU

Poland insists on starting the negotiation process for Ukraine's EU membership.

However, Hungary's veto makes the opening of the first chapter before the end of the Polish presidency extremely unlikely.

The Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs, Janos Boka, stated that Budapest disagrees with the current version of the EU's final documents regarding Ukraine.

Boka emphasized that the conclusions formulated by the European Union contradict Hungary's national interests in several key strategic areas.