The Hungarian defence minister has announced the country will install an air defence system near its border with Ukraine, citing a “greater than ever” threat of an escalation in the Ukraine-Russia war.
“We still trust that there will be peace as soon as possible, through diplomacy instead of a military solution,” Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky said in a video posted to Facebook late Wednesday.
“However, to prepare for all possibilities, I ordered the recently purchased air control and air defence systems and the capabilities built on them to be installed in the northeast,” he said.
His comments come after a meeting of Hungary’s defence council was convened by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to discuss the developments in Ukraine.
This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks, after the United States allowed Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia.
Hungary’s military, currently undergoing a modernization program, bought the French Mistral air defense systems alongside four other EU countries last year. In 2020 Hungary agreed to buy NASAMS air defense systems from Norway’s Kongsberg and US arms manufacturer Raytheon Technologies.The minister said some units of the Hungarian military were also on high alert.