Among a dozen EU members examined, Hungary country where most expect Russia to win war with Ukraine

A survey published on Wednesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) reveals that Hungary is the country where the highest proportion of respondents expect Russia to prevail in the war against Ukraine. 31 percent of Hungarians polled said Russia would win. With the exception of the Poles and the Portuguese, all thought this was more likely than a Ukrainian victory, and the data was even gathered prior to the Ukrainian forces’ recent withdrawal from Avdiivka. However, in all 12 countries (37 percent on average) some kind of settlement was considered the most likely outcome. Hungarians were the most likely (64 percent) to say that the EU should push Ukraine to negotiate. Only 16 percent of those surveyed said they would instead support providing assistance for the retaking of the occupied territories.

A relatively high proportion of Hungarians saw Ukrainian refugees as a risk, but at 37 percent, they are second only to Poland (where nearly one million Ukrainians have been granted refugee status, compared to less than 34,000 in Hungary, according to Eurostat’s February data). 19 percent of Hungarians saw Ukrainian refugees as an opportunity for the country. The rest either did not know, did not agree with either answer or were simply not interested in the question.

Hungary is the country where the highest proportion of the population (28 percent) said they would be happy if Donald Trump won the US presidential election in the autumn, but they are still in the minority compared to those who would be disappointed (32 percent). According to ECFR, the question was examined among supporters of several right-wing parties, and they found that across the twelve countries inspected, Fidesz voters are the only ones among whom the majority would be happy to see the former president, who has so far performed outstandingly in the Republican primaries, move back into the White House.

54 percent of Hungarians polled are of the opinion that in case the new US leader were to limit the existing support for Ukraine, the EU should do the same, which is the highest proportion among the 12 countries. On average, only a third of those surveyed shared this opinion, while 21 percent would maintain support at the current level and 20 percentwould prefer increasing it.

48 percent of both Hungarians and Greeks believe that the EU has played a negative role in the war in Ukraine, while only 25 percent believe the opposite. The relative majority (37 percent) of those surveyed across the 12 countries as a whole also says the role has been a negative one, with only 29 percent seeing the role as positive.