"Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto slammed the European logic of aiding Ukraine with defence support as an 'outrageous lie', pointing out that Kiev is 'fighting for itself' as he spoke on the Hour of Truth podcast in Budapest on Tuesday. "One of the most outrageous lies in the history of European politics is that Ukraine is fighting for Europe. No, Ukraine is not fighting for Europe, Ukraine is fighting for itself," highlighted Szijjarto. "It is one of the biggest lies that the investment in the Ukrainian army is an investment in European security [...] the transatlantic region is protected by NATO, so we do not need Ukraine to sacrifice itself on the altar of European defence, because this is a non-existent dimension," he continued. On the EU's plans to fund Ukraine with seized Russian frozen assets and proposal to limit Ukrainian troops to 800,000 soldiers, the minister alerted a 'mood of war' and criticised Brussels for overlooking its unanimous principle to 'drag the continent into war'. "European Union politicians easily bypass their own union rules in order to take all of Europe into war," underlined Szijjarto, adding, "if it disappears trust in the European economy and the European investment environment, then it can very easily mean the collapse of the European economy." The remarks come amid renewed diplomatic activity on Ukraine. Following US–Ukraine talks in Berlin, European leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Earlier, Zelensky suggested he could drop demands for NATO membership and instead pursue US and European 'Article Five-like' security guarantees. US President Donald Trump, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Moscow have repeatedly said that NATO membership would not be possible as part of any peace settlement."