‘There will be a bloodbath’ warns Hungarian PM Orban about the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive

Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, has warned of a ‘bloodbath’ should Ukraine launch its expected counter-offensive.

Speaking during an interview with Kossuth radio station the politician urged: “Everything must be done to convince the parties of the need for a ceasefire and the start of peace negotiations even before the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, otherwise we will lose many human lives”.

He explained that the Ukrainian army would suffer huge losses in the event of an attack. “Even a person like me, who has only a year and a half of military service, knows that the attacking side has three times more casualties than the defending side”.

According to the prime minister, preparations for a counter-offensive are “the business of the Ukrainians”, and not his prerogative.

However, he believed in his opinion that it was necessary to take into account the population of both countries. In Russia, there are about 140 million people, and in Ukraine, about 40 million, he pointed out.

Under these conditions, Orban believed, major strategic offensives will lead to a “bloody massacre”, as reported by gazeta.ru.

Unlike many European countries, Hungary does not supply equipment and weapons to Ukraine, justifying this by a desire to avoid escalation of the conflict.

In addition, the Hungarian authorities have regularly criticized the EU sanctions against the Russian Federation, believing that the restrictions harm European countries more than Moscow.

According to Li Hui, the Special Representative of the Chinese Government for Eurasian Affairs, Beijing is convinced that hostilities on the territory of Ukraine can be stopped by stopping the supply of weapons to the combat zone.

“If there really is a desire to stop the war, save lives, and achieve peace, we need to stop supplying weapons to the war zone”, the Chinese envoy insisted.

According to the politician, there is otherwise a danger of continuous escalation “in a spiral”. He acknowledged that there are “many difficulties and disagreements” on the way to a diplomatic settlement, but the Ukrainian authorities assured him that they “wish and cherish peace. And I felt that both sides did not close the doors to negotiations”, he continued.

The Washington Post noted on Friday 2, that the Ukrainian army will face many obstacles during the counter-offensive. In particular, Ukrainian soldiers will have to pass through their own minefields, which will be quite difficult to clear.

Quoting the words of Steve Danner, former US Army engineer, they wrote: “I am very worried that Ukraine will not be able to cope with the scale of these difficulties”.

Another obstacle in the way of the Ukrainian forces is what the news outlet called specially designed Russian fortifications. These are designed to send any troops into a trap where they would come under fire from artillery.

“If these fortifications work, then it could become a bloodbath. It’s very similar to World War I”, said Mark Kansian, a retired Marine Corps officer and defence expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Serhiy Matveychuk, Colonel of the Directorate of Engineering Troops of Ukraine, told the publication that Russia has created a: “massive system of engineering barriers that are a serious obstacle to the mobility of troops”.

At the same time, WP pointed out that the allies supplied Ukraine with mine-clearing equipment, without disclosing its exact number.