Fact Check: Did Orban say that Ukraine is “continuing the war in exchange for EU membership”?

On March 15, 2025, the Belarusian state YouTube channel CTVBY published a report claiming:

As stated by Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán, Brussels promises Ukraine accelerated accession to the European Union in exchange for continuing the war with Russia, which does not generate enthusiasm within the union. According to him, this will ultimately destroy the union, as hasty accession will cause irreparable damage to the economy, social sphere, and security, not to mention national defense. But EU officials do not care about the well-being of their own citizens; they only care about their own ambitions.

Our verdict based on conducted analyses:

Contents

1. Verdict: Incorrect
2. Chronology of Events and Dissemination
3. 📆 March 14, 2025 — Orbán’s interview on Kossuth Radio (Hungary)
4. 📆 March 14, 2025 — appearance of disinformation in Russian media
5. 📆 March 15, 2025 — Orbán’s participation in a rally marking the national holiday
6. 📆 March 15, 2025 — Russian edition of Euronews
7. 📆 March 15, 2025 — report on Belarusian state channel

Verdict: Incorrect

Reasons:

• The thesis or statement is completely false: information from multiple sources or opinions of several experts in the specific field contradict it.
• The causal relationships and connections clearly do not exist as claimed.
• When quoting, substantial parts are omitted, rearranged, changed, or incorrectly translated from a foreign language, resulting in a fundamental change in the meaning of what was said.
• The event occurred in substantial aspects differently than claimed.

Fact-checking rating scale

Full video:

Chronology of Events and Dissemination

📆 March 14, 2025 — Orbán’s interview on Kossuth Radio (Hungary)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave an interview to the state radio station Kossuth, which was widely covered in Hungarian media:

• Index.hu: link
• HVG.hu: link
• Hirado.hu: link
• Magyar Nemzet: link

🔹 In this interview, Orbán:

• criticized the accelerated discussion of Ukraine’s EU membership;
• called the Ukrainian economy “unsustainable”;
• did not mention “war in exchange for membership”;
• did not talk about “colonization”.

📆 March 14, 2025 — appearance of disinformation in Russian media

Russian media, including TASS (link) and Sputnik (link), published Orbán’s statements in this form:

“European leaders have decided that Ukraine should continue military operations in exchange for accelerated EU membership.”

🔸 This is indicated as sourced from the interview on Kossuth radio, however:

• In the original interview, this phrase does not exist;
• None of the Hungarian media outlets quote it.

📌 This is an example of false attribution: Russian media attributed words to Orbán that he did not say.

📆 March 15, 2025 — Orbán’s participation in a rally marking the national holiday

📍 In the city of Salgótarján, Orbán delivered a speech dedicated to the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49.

• In his speech, he stated:

“The Empire doesn’t want to help Ukraine, it wants to colonize it. And the instrument of colonization is war.”
“They say that Europe is the future, and we say that the future is Hungary.”

🔗 Source: Index.hu, publication from March 15

📌 This is the first real mention of “colonization” and “war as an instrument,” but it came a day after the disinformation in Russian media.

📆 March 15, 2025 — Russian edition of Euronews

Publication with the headline:

“Orbán: Brussels promises Ukraine accelerated EU accession in exchange for continuing the war”

🔹The material repeats the Russian interpretation:

• it claims that Ukraine continues hostilities “in exchange for membership”;
• there is no link to the interview, no direct quote;
• the presentation coincides with the disinformation narrative.

📆 March 15, 2025 — report on Belarusian state channel

A video with similar theses appears on the Belarusian state YouTube channel:

• Ukraine “continues the war in exchange for EU membership”;
• “collapse of the EU”;
• “ambitions of EU officials”.

📌 The Belarusian report is based on Russian sources, not on Hungarian primary sources.

• The quote about “war in exchange for membership” first appears in Russian media before Orbán publicly uses rhetoric similar in tone.
• The interview from March 14 that propagandists refer to does not contain these statements.
• Only on March 15 in a public speech does Orbán speak about “colonization,” but does not mention exchanging war for membership.
• Russian and allied media — including the Russian edition of Euronews and Belarusian state channels — spread disinformation, supporting it with a false reference to the Hungarian interview.

Now let’s perform an analysis of disinformation narratives and semantic analysis:

Semantic analysis: