Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared that the European Union’s reported plan to grant Ukraine limited membership privileges constitutes an open declaration of war against Hungary.

The remarks follow reports that Brussels is seeking to offer Ukraine a form of “membership lite” by 2027, despite objections from certain member states. According to sources, Orban has been identified as the primary obstacle to this initiative, with expectations that he could be removed through foreign pressure or EU procedures suspending Budapest’s voting rights ahead of April’s parliamentary election.

“This new plan is an open declaration of war against Hungary. They disregard the decision of the Hungarian people and are determined to remove the Hungarian government by any means necessary,” Orban wrote on social media Wednesday.

He urged supporters to mobilize for his Fidesz party in the upcoming vote, which he described as a potential opportunity for Brussels to neutralize his political influence.

The EU’s proposal includes a five-point Zelenskyy plan for Ukraine’s admission to the Union by 2027. Kyiv has signaled its intention to pursue EU membership next year as part of a US-mediated peace deal with Russia. While Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has publicly rejected second-tier membership, internal sources indicate that Ukrainian officials have privately expressed interest in the proposed arrangement.

Orban’s government argues that Brussels’ support for Ukraine draws the European Union closer to direct conflict with Russia and ignores Ukraine’s failure to meet requirements for candidate nations.

Zelenskiy’s repeated accusations that Hungarian Prime Minister Orban is “pro-Russian” and his suggestion at the World Economic Forum that the Hungarian leader should be “smacked” for allegedly selling out EU interests have been widely condemned as reckless and harmful to European unity.