Hungary and Ukraine discuss oil supplies

Hungary and Ukraine discuss oil supplies

Hungary and Ukraine have been publicly arguing over ongoing disruptions to oil supplies, with Budapest blaming Kiev for an attack on Hungary’s “sovereignty”.

Ukraine reacted by accusing Hungary of “moral degeneration.”

Hungary has experienced ongoing disruptions to oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline as Kiev has targeted energy infrastructure as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, which began over three years ago.

Relations between Kiev and Budapest have deteriorated since then. Hungary’s nationalist leader, Viktor Orban, maintains good relations with the Kremlin and blocks Kiev’s efforts to join the European Union.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his country has banned entry to “the commander of a Ukrainian military unit that recently carried out serious attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline.”

“This was an attack on Hungary’s sovereignty, endangering our energy security,” Szijjarto wrote in X.

The announcement comes after Russia carried out a massive attack in Ukraine, killing at least 16 people, including children.

In response to Szijjarto’s post, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Hungary “is on the wrong side of history.”

“How shameful to post this after the brutal attack carried out by the terrorist state, Russia,” Sybiha wrote on X.

“Peter, if the Russian pipeline is more important to you than the Ukrainian children who were killed by Russia this morning, this is moral degeneracy,” he wrote, adding that Kiev will retaliate.

Last week, Orban said he had complained to US President Donald Trump after Ukraine’s military operations against Russia caused disruptions to oil supplies.

Hungary and Slovakia have also called on the European Commission to “act against Ukraine’s continued attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline.”

The EU imposed a ban on most oil imports from Russia in 2022, but the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily exempted from sanctions to give landlocked Central European countries time to find alternative oil supplies.

Orban and his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, have repeatedly criticized the sanctions, describing them as a threat to their countries’ energy security. /REL/