“Ever since the start of the war in Ukraine, there’s been a constant debate in this country about the stance that should be taken in the interest of preserving Hungary’s peace and security,” Szijjarto said.

“The government has made clear decisions: We will send neither troops nor weapons and we will not allow the transit of lethal weapons across the country bound for Ukraine,” he said.

“The left has taken the opposite stance,” the minister said. “They would send weapons, potentially even soldiers, and have called the ban on the transit of weapons straight up betrayal.”

But the danger of weapons transits “could finally become clear to everyone yesterday if it hasn’t been already”, Szijjarto said, noting the Russian airstrike on an army base some 20 km from the Ukrainian-Polish border which had housed a consignment of foreign weapons.

Szijjarto said he hoped everyone now understood that “if we hadn’t banned the transit of weapons deliveries through Hungary, they would have been handed over on the Hungary-Ukraine border, which would have resulted in the threat of a similar attack in Transcarpathia, near the border”.

“No sane person could want this,” the minister said. “We have made a clear choice and we stand by it: Hungary cannot be dragged into the war.”

Opposition asks Orbán about drone in Hungarian airspace

Opposition parties asked Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Sunday about how a drone transporting a bomb could spend 40 minutes in Hungarian airspace.

DK, Jobbik, LMP, the Everyone’s Hungary Movement (MMM), Momentum, the Socialists and Parbeszed said in a joint statement that Orbán must answer without delay and without hesitation whether the Hungarian armed forces are able to defend Hungary in view of the fact that on March 10, a TU-141 type drone stayed in Hungarian airspace undisturbed for 40 minutes and, according to the Croatian defence ministry, carried a bomb.

The parties also asked Orbán whether Hungarian Gripens had been scrambled to intercept the drone and if not, why not.

In case the Hungarian armed forces intercepted the drone, it is an unacceptable explanation that they did not think it posed any danger, the united opposition said.