Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has written an open letter to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, urging him to change “anti-Hungarian policies.”
On Thursday morning, the prime minister shared the text of the letter on his social media page, stating that for four years, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been “unable to accept the position of the sovereign Hungarian government and the Hungarian people regarding the Russia-Ukraine war.”
He also claimed that Ukraine, in alliance with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition, “have been working to force Hungary into the war between your country and Russia. During this time, you have received support from Brussels and secured the backing of the Hungarian opposition,” according to the letter.
Orbán also confirmed the statements made by his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, who recently released a video statement saying that Ukraine had deliberately blocked the Druzhba oil pipeline, which is critical to the energy supply of Hungary and Slovakia.
“In recent days, you have blocked the Friendship oil pipeline, which is critical to Hungary’s energy supply. Your actions are against Hungary’s interests and endanger the secure and affordable energy supply of Hungarian families. I therefore call on you to change your anti-Hungarian policy!”
He also called on President Zelensky “to immediately reopen the Friendship oil pipeline and refrain from any further attacks on Hungary’s energy security,” stating it is not the fault of the Hungarian people that Ukraine finds itself in this situation.
“We, the Hungarian people, are not responsible for the situation in which Ukraine finds itself. We sympathise with the Ukrainian people, but we do not wish to participate in the war. We do not want to finance the war effort, and we do not want to pay more for energy,” Orbán stated.
In January, the oil pipeline suffered damage as a result of Russian shelling near the town of Brody in western Ukraine, leading to the suspension of Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. According to the Hungarian and Slovak governments, Kyiv is deliberately delaying the resumption of oil supplies through the pipeline. Oil supplies to Slovakia were initially planned to resume on 25 February, but were then postponed by one day to 26 February, and the Slovak Ministry of Economy said it had not received any explanation for the delay.
According to the European Commission, the suspension of supplies via the pipeline is not politically motivated, as, based on the information available to the Commission, repairs to the Ukrainian section of the pipeline have not yet been completed and work is continuing but depends on the security situation, given the regular attacks.
