The international community should focus on mediation and dialogue when searching for a solution to the war in Ukraine, rather than weapons deliveries, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in New York on Thursday, at a meeting of the UN Group of Friends of Mediation. According to a ministry statement, Szijjártó told the meeting that Hungary’s stance was clear: the “circumstances and conditions [for peace] will not be improved on the battlefield, the conditions for peace yesterday were much better than today. And today they are still better than tomorrow, because with each and every day spent with this war, there will be more people dying and more destruction taking place.” The solution to wars is always at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield, he said. “What we see on the battlefield are dead people and destruction.” Noting that the co-moderator of the meeting was the Turkish foreign minister, Szijjártó praised Turkiye as the only country which successfully mediated between Ukraine and Russia, referring to an agreement on grain transports from which Russia has since withdrawn. To the Turkish foreign minister, Szijjártó said, “I would like to ask you to continue your efforts and try to build on the first success[ful] one. Because every day in the war brings more casualties and more destruction”. “We do believe that the whole international community should mostly concentrate on saving lives of the people … In order to stop the war, we need immediate ceasefire, then peace talks to be established,” he added.
Later on Thursday, Szijjártó attended a preparatory meeting for the Summit of the Future, to be held in 2024, and told the event that the world was living in the decade of dangers and crises, “let us think about the financial crisis, migratory challenges, COVID, economic challenges, and the war in our neighborhood. On top of that, there’s a growing threat of terror,” he said. “We see as a serious danger that the world is now going to be divided into blocs again,” he said, calling for “a civilized East to West cooperation in the future.” Szijjártó said that when it came to a vision of the future, Hungary wants “no war, no migration, and no aggressive gender propaganda.” As regards the war in Ukraine, Hungary is in a very specific situation, he said. “We are faced with two serious security threats by the war from the east and by illegal migration from the south.” Hungary also sees it as a priority to “tackle the root causes which are causing migration … Instead of encouraging the migratory flows all over the world, we do have to destroy together the business model of the smugglers. And we have to make sure that we bring help where it is needed and we do not bring problems where there are no problems yet,” he said. Further, Hungary strives to protect families against “the very aggressive gender propaganda”. “We are sticking to our more than a thousand-year-long heritage: the father is a man, mother is a woman and our children must be protected and must be ensured that they can grow up under safe circumstances.” Hungary will always reject aggressive gender propaganda, and sees families as the foundation of society, he said.