Orbán explained why Zelensky is pressuring Hungary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is putting pressure on Hungary because it does not want to be drawn into a conflict with Russia, sponsor Kyiv, or stop receiving energy resources from Russia.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote this on his X page.

“Today Zelensky is threatening Hungary and putting pressure on us because we refuse to be dragged into the war, to send money to Ukraine, and we do not want to give up affordable Russian energy resources. It is now also clear that the entire Hungarian opposition has sided with Ukraine. Their goal is chaos, fuel shortages, and rising prices ahead of the elections. They are on Zelensky’s side, not on the side of the Hungarian people,” Orbán wrote.

He added that “the stakes are now clear” and urged Hungarians to vote for the Fidesz party in the parliamentary elections in April.

In the same post, Orbán also stressed that for four years European and Hungarian families have been paying the economic price of the Ukraine conflict, and that Hungary “has been for peace from the very beginning.”

On January 27, Ukraine blocked supplies of Russian oil to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó first announced that in response Budapest had suspended diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine. He later said Hungary had blocked the EU’s 20th package of sanctions against Russia and the allocation of €90 billion to Ukraine.

On February 24, Orbán promised that Budapest would break through the oil blockade, which he said Ukraine had organized in order to change the government in Hungary.