The pipeline feud has handed Orbán — who is trailing in polls ahead of a major election challenge — an effective veto over EU financial support for Kyiv, with Hungary blocking the loan package until oil flows resume and pledging to oppose any further pro-Ukraine EU decisions in the meantime.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he would not repair the Druzhba pipeline that carries Russian crude oil to Central Europe, staking out a direct position that deepens a standoff with neighboring Hungary and Slovakia now in its second month. The declaration came as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vowed to use financial and political leverage to force Kyiv to restore oil flows, and as the dispute continues to block a 90-billion euro European Union loan that Ukraine needs to sustain its defense against Russia’s invasion.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t restore it. This is my position,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference Thursday.
Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been halted since Jan. 27, when Ukrainian officials say Russian drone attacks damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory. Kyiv says continuous Russian strikes make carrying out repairs dangerous and that even a repaired pipeline would remain vulnerable to further attacks.
Hungary and Slovakia — unlike most EU member states, both continue to import Russian fossil fuels — have accused Ukraine of deliberately blocking supplies. Their governments have proposed sending a joint fact-finding mission to the pipeline site in western Ukraine to assess the damage and determine whether flows can resume. Zelenskyy said Thursday he had received no official EU request to grant inspectors access to the site, but added that “I think it will certainly come in one format or another.”
Orbán vows to use financial tools to reopen pipeline
The dispute has given Orbán leverage over a 90-billion euro ($106 billion) EU loan package that Ukraine needs to fund its war effort. Hungary has blocked the loan over the oil interruption and has vowed to veto further pro-Ukraine EU decisions until flows resume.
Speaking at an economic forum Thursday, Orbán said “we will win and we will win with force” in the feud with Ukraine. “We have political and financial tools, and with these we will compel them, unconditionally and preferably as soon as possible, to reopen the Druzhba pipeline,” Orbán said. “I will make no pact, there will be no compromise. We will defeat them.”
Orbán, widely seen as Moscow’s chief advocate within the EU, has also escalated an anti-Ukraine political campaign domestically ahead of a major election challenge next month, with polls showing him trailing. He has claimed without evidence that Ukraine and Zelenskyy seek to bankrupt Hungary, and has warned voters that a loss at the polls would draw Hungary directly into the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy frames dispute as a matter of principle
Zelenskyy acknowledged the blocked loan but framed the pipeline dispute in terms that go beyond the immediate security argument.
“This is Russian oil, and there are certain principles that have no price,” he said. “They kill us, and we have to give oil to Orbán because he cannot win elections without it?”
He also expressed hope that “one person” would not block the EU loan, a remark widely understood as a reference to Orbán.