Hungary to deploy air defence near border with Ukraine as Kyiv has been authorised to strike deep into Russia

Hungarian Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky has ordered the deployment of air defence in the areas of Hungary closest to the border with Ukraine, citing fears of escalation after Ukraine was authorised to use Western-supplied weapons to strike deep into Russian territory. 

As reported by Telex, the Hungarian defence minister said on Facebook that he had ordered the deployment of air defence systems in the northeast of the country, explaining that the scale of the Russo-Ukrainian war is "larger than ever, and the war has entered the most dangerous phase".

He attributed this, in particular, to the lifting of long-range restrictions for Ukraine and linked it to Putin's approval of an updated nuclear doctrine, in which Russia expanded the possible conditions for the use of nuclear weapons (Putin announced this step in late September). 

Last weekend, when several Russian missiles were shot down near the border with Hungary in the Carpathian Mountains, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó reacted by saying that it was necessary to step up efforts to bring peace.

Following the news of the lifting of long-range missile use restrictions for Ukraine, Szijjártó accused the current US administration of attacking the new reality that has emerged after Donald Trump's election victory and threatening to expand the war.

After Ukraine's first strikes, supposedly with Western-supplied missiles deep into Russian territory, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán convened a meeting of the Defence Council to discuss the threat of war escalation.