Hungary Blocks EU Military Aid to Ukraine Over Lukoil Oil Transit Dispute

Hungary will block European Union refunds to member states that provided ammunition to Ukraine until Kyiv resumes the transit of oil from Russia's Lukoil through a pipeline across Ukrainian territory, Hungary's foreign minister announced on Tuesday. Slovakia and Hungary recently reported that they had stopped receiving oil from Lukoil via the Druzhba pipeline after Ukraine imposed a ban last month on the transit of Lukoil resources.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó stated, "Until this issue is resolved by Ukraine, everyone should forget about the payment of 6.5 billion euros from the European Peace Mechanism compensation for arms transfers," according to ATV TV. This aligns with the remarks made by Josep Borrell during a press conference on Monday evening following the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, where he mentioned that no agreement had been reached to unblock funds for financing arms supplies to Ukraine.

"Most member states insisted on lifting the blockade, which has been ongoing for months, even a year. They emphasized the need to move forward on the new support fund for Ukraine, which has been blocked by a member state for over a year. This state deems the situation unacceptable and intolerable, yet, unfortunately, the status quo remains," Borrell noted. While the country was not explicitly named, it was evident that Viktor Orban's Hungary was the culprit, having already secured an exemption from EU funds intended for military aid to Ukraine.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen expressed to Helsingin Sanomat that Hungary's differing stance on EU policies might suggest that the European Union is not the "right reference group" for Budapest. She criticized Hungary's foreign policy,...