Hungary and Ukraine have publicly clashed over ongoing interruptions in oil supplies, with Budapest blaming Kiev for an attack on Hungary’s “sovereignty”, while Ukraine accused Hungary of “moral degeneration.”
Hungary has experienced repeated disruptions in oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline as Kyiv targets energy infrastructure amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which began over three years ago. Relations between Kyiv and Budapest have deteriorated since then. Hungary’s nationalist leader, Viktor Orban, maintains close ties with Moscow and has blocked Ukraine’s EU accession efforts.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated that his country denied entry to “the commander of a Ukrainian military unit recently responsible for major attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline.”
“This was an attack on Hungary’s sovereignty, threatening our energy security,” Szijjarto wrote on X.
The statement followed a massive Russian attack in Ukraine that killed at least 16 people, including children.
In response, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Hungary “is on the wrong side of history.”
“How shameful to post this after the brutal attack by the terrorist state, Russia. Peter, if the Russian pipeline is more important to you than the Ukrainian children killed this morning by Russia, this is moral degeneration,” Sybiha wrote, adding that Kyiv will respond.
Last week, Orban reportedly complained to U.S. President Donald Trump that Ukrainian military operations against Russia had disrupted oil supplies. Hungary and Slovakia have also asked the European Commission to act against Ukraine’s ongoing attacks on the Druzhba pipeline.
The EU imposed a ban on most Russian oil imports in 2022, but the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily exempted to give Central European landlocked countries time to secure alternative supplies. Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico have repeatedly criticized the sanctions, calling them a threat to their countries’ energy security.
