Hungary

A political consensus is needed on recognising the paramount importance of the security of Hungary and the Hungarian people in connection with the war unfolding in Ukraine, the leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group said on Friday.

The united opposition held a demonstration in front of the Russian embassy in Budapest under the motto "Against Putin, for Ukraine" late on Thursday.

Hungary's foreign minister said late on Thursday that India and Iran had turned to Hungary for help in rescuing their citizens stranded in Ukraine.

Lake Velence, in central Hungary, which dried out in places, has been replenished from a nearby reservoir, bringing the water level of the lake from 83 cm in December to 99 cm, the water management authority said on Thursday.

Mate Kocsis, parliamentary group leader of ruling Fidesz, has called on politicians of the opposition not to make "irresponsible remarks" or "voice dangerous ideas", and to "avoid spreading fake news".

Hungary must stay out of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday. "What matters most to us is the security of the Hungarian people," he added.

Fully 77 percent of Hungarians oppose the idea of Hungary, as a NATO member, sending soldiers and weapons to Ukraine, according to a Szazadveg Foundation survey conducted before the Russian military attack on Ukraine earlier today.

The united opposition has demanded the lifting of epidemiological restrictions and the special legal order introduced in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.

"War is the worst-case scenario", Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook early on Thursday, after Russia started military operations on Ukrainian soil.

The municipal council of Budapest has decided to terminate a 2009 agreement under which a funicular as well as a bus park would have been built on central Gellert Hill.