Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban can’t stop talking about President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine. He appears to have adopted a "wag the dog" strategy to hold onto power by instilling popular fear.

Just in the past few weeks, the Hungarian strongman called the war-torn country an "enemy" and accused its leadership of blackmail, deception, and election interference. Orban even deployed troops to defend Hungary's energy infrastructure against a claimed Ukrainian threat.

Hungary's leader is "desperately losing" his pre-election fight, Pavel Havlicek, a research fellow at the Association for International Affairs in Prague, told the Kyiv Independent.

To avert defeat, he is "picking external fights," seeking to mobilize Hungarian voters against Ukraine while also pointing the finger at the domestic political opposition, the expert says.

Read more in Kyiv Independent