Bangladesh, June 28 -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has once again set himself apart from much of Europes political mainstream by issuing a stark warning: granting NATO membership to Ukraine would ignite a global catastrophe. Speaking in an interview and reiterating his position in a social media post on June 28, Orban declared that Ukraines accession to NATO “would mean war with Russia, and World War III the very next day.”

The comments underline Hungarys consistent opposition to the Western consensus on the Ukraine conflict. Orbans message was not limited to NATO membership either; he also condemned what he described as the European Unions “reckless rush” to absorb Ukraine into the bloc, saying such a m...