Orban announced the preservation of Hungary's position on the issue of financing Ukraine

The latest proposals of the European Union (EU) regarding the Druzhba oil pipeline will not change Hungary's position on financing Ukraine. This was announced on March 17 by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"I have already said that Hungary's position remains unchanged. If [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky wants to receive money from Brussels, then he must unblock the Druzhba oil pipeline," the head of government said in a video message posted on the social network X (ex. Twitter).

Orban noted that "the situation is extremely simple" — Kiev will not receive EU money until Hungary has oil.

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On the same day, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the EU leaders and Zelensky staged a spectacle with an exchange of letters about the Druzhba oil pipeline. According to the minister, the situation with supply restrictions is a pre-agreed scenario between Brussels and Kiev. Szijjarto called for the immediate lifting of the oil blockade against Hungary.

On the same day, von der Leyen noted that the EU had offered Ukraine technical support and financing for the restoration of the Druzhba pipeline. She added that the EC and the EU continue to search for alternative transit routes for non-Russian oil to Eastern and Central Europe.

A day earlier, Szijjarto said that at the last moment Ukraine canceled trilateral consultations with the energy ministers of Hungary and Slovakia on the functioning of the Druzhba oil pipeline.

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