(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s ambassador to Hungary lashed out at the country’s new army chief over comments defending Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s call for peace talks over Ukraine, in which he claimed that World War II could have been stopped with negotiations.  

The Polish envoy, Sebastian Keciek, called the comments by Hungarian Lieutenant General Gabor Borondi an “unacceptable distortion of history,” as simmering tensions between the erstwhile European Union allies over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spilled into the open. 

In advocating for peace talks, Borondi on Tuesday drew a historic parallel with Nazi Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland, which launched World War II. On state television, the military officer described the action as a “local war” between Germany and Poland — adding: “We didn’t ‘catch it’ in time, so to speak, with a peace process.” 

“The politics of appeasement and the acceptance of further demands by the Third Reich led to the outbreak of World War II, not the absence of peace talks with the aggressor,” Keciek retorted in a letter published Wednesday to Borondi. The comments “should never have been uttered, especially not by a representative of a close ally.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a sharp falling out between the governments in Warsaw and Budapest, which have for years bonded over a running conflict with the European Union over accusations of democratic backsliding. 

Orban’s government sought to distance itself from the army chief’s interpretation of European history, but rejected calls to dismiss him. 

“Poland was the biggest victim of World War II,” Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyas told reporters at a briefing on Thursday. Borondi “does a good job in his role,” he said, adding that “interpreting World War II isn’t part of that.”

Orban has refused to send military aid to Ukraine, warning that such deliveries from North Atlantic Treaty Organization and EU allies threaten to escalate the conflict. The Hungarian leader has repeatedly said the West should consider cutting support for Ukraine to end the war as quickly as possible.

Critics — including the leadership in Kyiv, the United States, and many of Hungary’s allies in the EU and NATO — have said that Orban, who has maintained close economic ties with Russia, is effectively calling for Ukraine’s capitulation, something that would only embolden Moscow’s expansionary plans. 

--With assistance from Piotr Skolimowski, Marton Kasnyik and Mark Sweetman.

(Updates with Hungarian minister’s comment in sixth and seventh paragraphs.)

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