Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Hungarian capital in support of Prime Minister Viktor Orban
Tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest on Thursday to join a march attended by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The rally comes six months before the parliamentary elections.
The demonstrators marched through the city center shouting slogans in support of Orban, as well as expressing their opposition to the EU’s ever deepening involvement in the Ukraine conflict, which they said risks a direct confrontation between the bloc and Russia, which could affect Hungary as well.
“We don’t want to die for Ukraine,” read a large banner that participants carried in front of their column. Orban delivered a speech to his supporters at a central square near the parliament.
“Hungary says NO to war! We will not die for Ukraine. We will not send our children to the slaughterhouse at Brussels’ command,” the prime minister wrote on social media ahead of the event. At the rally, Orban warned that the bloc wants “to squeeze Ukraine into the EU at any price….to bring war into Europe.”
Photos and videos published on social media showed a crowd of people marching through the city streets waving Hungarian flags, as well as placards with names of towns and villages they came from.
Orban’s Fidesz party faces a potentially tight race against the pro-EU Tisza party led by Peter Magyar in April 2026. Magyar held a rally of his own on Thursday, which was also attended by thousands.
Orban has long criticized the EU “warmongering” position on Russia, arguing against military aid to Kiev and calling on the bloc to engage in diplomacy instead. He recently launched a petition in Hungary against the EU’s “war agenda,” warning that continued support for Kiev risks direct confrontation with Russia.
READ MORE: EU state launches campaign against bloc’s ‘war plan’
Hungary also welcomed the idea of hosting a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest. Such plans were announced last week by both the Kremlin and White House after a phone call between the two leaders. On Wednesday, however, both Washington and Moscow said the planned meeting would be postponed.
