Hungary to block 90 billion euro EU loan to Ukraine in Russian oil dispute

Foreign Minister ​Peter Szijjarto says Hungary ‘will not give in to this blackmail’ after oil flows from Ukraine halted.Published On 20 Feb 2026Hungary will block a 90 billion euro ($106bn) EU loan for Ukraine until it resumes oil shipments to the country via ⁠the Druzhba pipeline, its foreign minister said on Friday after Budapest said it would tap strategic reserves to tackle a shortage.Hungary and Slovakia, which have the only remaining refineries in the European Union using Russian oil through Druzhba, have been trying ⁠to secure supply since flows were halted on January 27 following what Ukraine said was a Russian drone attack that damaged pipeline infrastructure.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump endorses Prime Minister Viktor Orban for Hungary’s April electionlist 2 of 3In Ukraine’s west, Hungarian minority rights collide with wartime politicslist 3 of 3Hungary’s Orban says EU bigger threat than Russia before April electionsend of listBoth countries have blamed Ukraine for the delay in restarting the flows for political reasons. The news agency Reuters requested comments from the Ukrainian foreign ministry and the state oil and gas company on Thursday.“By blocking oil transit to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline, Ukraine ‌violates the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, breaching its commitments to the European Union. We will not give in to this blackmail,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on X.The Hungarian government said in a decree late on Thursday that it would release about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic reserves to make up for shortfalls.Croatia’s JANAF pipeline operator, however, said on Friday there was no need for Budapest to do so after Hungary’s oil company MOL said JANAF must allow transit of the Russian seaborne oil during the Druzhba outage.“At this moment, a ⁠significant quantity of non-Russian crude oil is being transported via JANAF’s pipeline for MOL ⁠Group, while three additional tankers carrying non-Russian oil, also for MOL Group, are on their way to the Omisalj Terminal,” JANAF said in a statement.