“Let our boys call him!”. Zelenski, a veiled threat to the European leader who blocks billions for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for blocking a 90 billion euro ($104 billion) aid package from the European Union, essential for Kiev's survival in the fight against Russia, writes Reuters.

Ukraine relies on financial aid from external partners to cover its budgetary needs, while channeling the majority of state funds to defense. Hungary, an EU member state that has maintained cordial relations with Moscow since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, vetoed the bailout package in March amid a dispute over oil supplies.

“We hope that a certain person in the EU will not continue to block the 90 billion, or the first tranche of 90 billion, and that the Ukrainian soldiers will have weapons,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev.

“Otherwise, we will give this person's address to our armed forces, to our guys. Let them call him and talk to him, in their language,” the Ukrainian president veiledly threatened.

The remark is likely to heighten the tension between the two leaders already visible during Russia's more than four-year war against Ukraine, a conflict which Orban – who faces parliamentary elections on April 12 – has been careful not to condemn.

Hungary's veto of the aid package, as well as new EU sanctions against Russia, came in response to what Hungary claims was a deliberate disruption by Ukraine of oil supplies from the Drujba pipeline, which carries Russian crude to Europe.

Kiev says the flow of oil stopped after an attack by Russian forces on the pipeline's infrastructure in January and that it is repairing the damage as quickly as it can. Zelenskiy said on Thursday that the Soviet-era pipeline could become operational again within a month and a half.

“They (the Russians, no) are killing us, and we should give poor Orban oil, because without him he won't win the elections?” Zelenski added.

Orban has made the war in Ukraine a centerpiece of his re-election campaign.

Ukrainian troops are repelling Russian attacks along several parts of the 1,200-kilometer front, as Kiev faces US pressure to reach a peace deal with Moscow while rejecting Russian demands for territory cessions.

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Kiev's military has been recapturing territory in recent weeks, gaining more ground in February than it lost for the first time since 2023, according to Finland-based think tank Black Bird Group.

European foreign ministers tried unsuccessfully this month to persuade Budapest not to punish Ukraine for delays in restarting the Drujba pipeline, which also supplies Slovakia, another EU neighbor of Ukraine.

Slovakia, whose Prime Minister Robert Fico has also adopted sympathetic positions towards the Kremlin, said it would refuse Kiev's requests for emergency power supplies until the flow of oil is resumed through the Drujba pipeline.

Viktor Orban: “We will win with force”

For his part, Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted a video on social networks in which he threatens to force Ukraine to resume the transit of Russian oil through the Drujba pipeline. According to him, Hungary has the political and financial instruments to force Ukraine to resume crude oil transit.

“We will win. And we will win with force. We have political and financial tools and with their help we will force them to resume the operation of the Druja oil pipeline unconditionally and as soon as possible,” said Viktor Orban.

“I want to be clear, we will win here and we will win by force. There will be no compromises here. We will defeat them. We will break the oil blockade, we will force the Ukrainians to restore the supply not through business, not through an agreement, not through compromise, but through force,” Orban pointed out, quoted by News.ro.

On March 2, Prime Minister Viktor Orban presented satellite images that would prove the absence of obstacles in the operation of the Drujba pipeline.

Commenting on this, Zelenski said that the satellite images do not show all the details.

The EU is considering providing financial assistance to Ukraine to repair the Drujba oil pipeline in order to unlock support for Kiev from Hungary and Slovakia, Bloomberg wrote, citing unnamed sources.

On January 27, after Russia bombed Drujba near the city of Brody in the Lviv region, Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia were stopped.

Ukraine explained the lack of transit through damage and the need for repairs, which are delayed by enemy attacks.

At the same time, the leaders of Slovakia and Hungary, the only ones in the EU that still receive Russian oil, accuse Kiev of cutting off supplies for political reasons and, in response, have blocked Ukraine's supply of diesel.