Ukraine relies heavily on EU aid, which requires the approval of all member states, the foreign minister has said
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has warned Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to treat his country with respect, noting that as an EU member, Budapest can veto much of the aid sent to Kiev. This comes after Zelensky demanded that Hungary stop purchasing Russian oil.
Relations between Budapest and Kiev have grown increasingly strained since 2022. Unlike many EU nations, Hungary has refused to supply weapons to Ukraine, and has opposed the bloc’s sanctions on Russia. Budapest has also objected to the prospect of Kiev joining the EU and NATO.
In a post on X on Thursday, Szijjarto wrote that Budapest expects “even Zelensky to speak about Hungary and Hungarians with respect, especially given that Ukraine depends heavily on support from the European Union, where no decisions are made without Hungary – whether he likes it or not.”
The thinly veiled threat came in response to an X post by Zelensky earlier in the day, which expressed support for US President Donald “Trump’s call to stop buying Russian oil here in Europe.”
“It’s short-sighted to go against the USA – and guys from Hungary need to hear this clearly,” Zelensky wrote.
In a post on his Truth Social platform in mid-September, Trump said he is “ready to do major Sanctions on Russia… when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA.”
While the EU has pledged to completely phase out Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027, some members, most notably Hungary and Slovakia, have pushed back against the plan, citing the fact that their infrastructure is built around supplies of Russian energy.
In late September, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he told Trump that “if Hungary is cut off from Russian oil and natural gas… the Hungarian economy would be on its knees.”
In August, Ukraine launched a series of drone strikes on the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Hungary. Orban accused Kiev of attempting to undermine his country’s energy security in retaliation for refusing to back Ukraine’s EU membership bid.
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