Hungary needs to protect itself amid the “greatest-ever” risk of spillover, the defense minister has said
Hungary is moving some of its air defense systems to the Ukrainian border due to the latest escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced on Wednesday evening.
The deployment, announced following a defense council meeting, is a contingency measure, the official explained in a video statement which cited decisions by Western governments to allow Kiev attack Russian territory with long-range weapons and Moscow’s change of nuclear posture this week, respectively.
”To prepare for all possibilities, I ordered the recently purchased air control and air defense systems and the capabilities built on them to be installed in the northeast,” he said, noting that the threat posed by the Ukraine conflict is “greater than ever”. Hungary remains committed to a peaceful resolution, Szalay-Bobrovniczky stressed.
The new military hardware will improve detection of aerial targets potentially dangerous to Hungary and allow swifter responses by the military, the minister explained. Hungarian troops are currently on stand-by, he added.
The current round of escalation came after US President Joe Biden reportedly authorized Ukrainian attacks with ATACMS ballistic missiles inside internationally recognized Russian territory. The UK and France have allegedly followed suit by changing the rules for Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles that they donated to Ukraine. However neither government has announced the policy change officially.
This week, the Russian military reported that it had intercepted several ATACMS missiles over Russia’s Bryansk Region and Storm Shadow missiles at an undisclosed location. According to media reports, the European weapons were fired at a target in Russia’s Kursk Region. Kiev’s troops are currently trying to maintain control part of the region that they seized in an incursion in August.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office in January, claimed during his election campaign that he would end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours, if voters returned him to power in Washington.
Biden reportedly intends to use any opportunity during his remaining two months in the White House to bolster Kiev against Moscow. Critics have accused the Democrat of trying to force Trump to continue hostilities.
