Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has criticised Ukraine’s decision to ban former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country in order to meet Orbán, saying that the decision raises questions over Kyiv’s European Union ambition.

As reported by Reuters, on Thursday, when asked about the Ukrainian decision to prevent Poroshenko from leaving the country for a series of foreign work visits, one of them to Hungary, Orbán said special rules and restrictions in wartime were "acceptable".

"But a question arises, if a meeting between a Ukrainian citizen and a Hungarian prime minister carries a national security risk, then how do they want to become members of the EU? But let's leave that for later," Orbán said.

On 1 December, Ukrainian MP and former president Petro Poroshenko said that border guards had banned him from leaving Ukraine to attend international meetings in the US and Poland.

On 2 December, the Security Service of Ukraine said that Poroshenko was planning a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Russian intelligence services supposedly planned to use this meeting to carry out PSYOP against Ukraine.

Hungary responded by saying that it "does not want to play any role in President Zelenskyy's internal political struggle" and that such news is "another indication that Ukraine is not yet ready for EU membership".