Brussels issues rare condemnation of Ukraine’s president, as the Budapest-Kyiv feud boils over.
The European Commission on Friday rebuked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over remarks that Hungary interpreted as a threat against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Zelenskyy alluded Thursday to giving the address of a “certain person” — widely understood to mean Orbán — to Ukrainian troops for a direct talk “in their own language.”
Hungary took offense to the remarks, as an intensifying spat between Kyiv and Budapest threatens to run out of control.
“Specifically in relation to the comments made by President Zelenskyy, we are very clear as the European Commission that that type of language is not acceptable. There must not be threats against EU member states,” Commission deputy chief spokesperson Olof Gill told reporters Friday, in a rare condemnation of the leader in Kyiv.
And kidnapped seven Ukrainians in the process.