Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán has threatened to veto the European Union’s proposed €90bn financial assistance package for Ukraine.
He will yield if Kiev restores Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, he says.
The pipeline, one of the largest oil transport systems in the world, carries Russian crude westward through Ukraine to Central European countries including Hungary and Slovakia.
For Hungary and Slovakia, which are landlocked and whose refineries are historically configured for Russian Urals crude, the route remains strategically significant.
Ukrainian authorities say the Druzhba pipeline was shut down after being damaged during a Russian attack in January. The Kiev government maintains that the interruption is the result of wartime conditions rather than a political decision, but Hungary and Slovakia stay it as a deliberate obstruction.
Orbán said on social media that Hungary would block the EU’s “€90 billion Ukrainian war loan” for as long as Ukraine prevents oil transit.
“We will not be pushed around,” he wrote.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, argued that halting oil transit violates the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and constitutes a breach of Ukraine’s commitments to the European bloc.
Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, has also escalated the dispute, declaring a state of emergency over oil supplies and warning of retaliatory measures if deliveries are not resumed. Slovakia’s economy minister said Ukraine postponed the restart of shipments until 24 February.
The €90bn package is intended to stabilizes Ukraine’s public finances. Major EU financial packages generally require unanimous approval from member states.
While the EU banned most seaborne imports of Russian oil in 2022, pipeline deliveries were temporarily exempted to shield heavily dependent landlocked countries. Hungary in particular has continued to rely on Russian crude via Druzhba, arguing that alternative routes and refinery adjustments would require substantial investment and time which Hungary should not have to shoulder.
