2026-02-21 19:16
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2026-02-21 19:16
Dear Donald, I am responsible for Hungary and Hungarians. If someone harms them, it is my duty to defend them – wrote the head of the Hungarian government, Viktor Orban, in a comment to the entry by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Donald Tusk. Politicians referred to the blockade of the EU loan for Ukraine announced by Budapest on Friday.
“Dear Donald, I am responsible for Hungary and Hungarians. If someone harms them, it is my duty to defend them. It will be the same now. Until the president (of Ukraine – PAP) Volodymyr Zelensky resumes oil supplies, he should not expect any support from us,” Orban wrote on Saturday.
The post was a response to an earlier entry by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who wrote on the same platform that “Prime Minister Orban has just blocked European aid for Ukraine, Kaczyński is trying to block SAFE, i.e. money for defense and the Polish arms industry.” “Guess who's happy,” Tusk said.
The head of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijjarto, announced on Friday that Hungary will block the EU loan of PLN 90 billion to Ukraine until the transit of Russian crude oil to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline is resumed. The pipeline was damaged on January 27 as a result of Russian attacks, which interrupted the transit of oil through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia.
The Hungarian authorities accused Ukraine of deliberately stopping the shipment and “blackmailing Hungary by suspending oil transit in agreement with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition in order to cause supply disruptions in Hungary and increase fuel prices before the elections.” Szijjarto added that by blocking the transit of oil through the Druzhba pipeline, Ukraine is violating the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine, violating its obligations towards the European Union. – We will not succumb to this blackmail – he wrote.
In February, the European Parliament approved a loan for Ukraine at its plenary session in Strasbourg. Now it still needs to be formally approved by member states within the EU Council. Once all steps are completed, the European Commission will be able to disburse the first tranche at the beginning of the second quarter of this year.
Jakub Bawołek from Budapest (PAP)
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