The world must prevent Russia from realizing its military goals in Ukraine - at the same time, it is against Budapest helping Kyiv with weapons, and considers sanctions ineffective, Hungarian President Katalin Novak said in an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

The president of Hungary stressed that she initially condemned Russian aggression, and her entire country stands for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

"Ukraine is a sovereign country that was attacked by a neighbor and is now doing everything possible to protect its citizens. Ukrainians act independently, but they are supported by many countries. This, of course, affects the military effort,” Novak said.

She stressed that "Russia should not achieve its military goals, we should not allow this,” but sees the solution in peace talks, although she admits that they are unrealistic as of now.

The Hungarian president believes that military assistance will ‘ignite a war’ and ‘may quickly lead to an escalation,’ but supports humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians and Ukrainian refugees.

Regarding the sanctions, Novak stressed that Hungary supported all previous European Union sanctions packages against Russia, but one must also take into account their impact on European states.

"Sanctions have an effect, but they have done us more harm than Russia. This cannot be allowed. We should pay much more attention to this, instead of focusing only on punishing Russia,” she said.

www.anews.az