Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke ironically today about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his decision to block critically important European aid to Kiev in the amount of 90 billion euros, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The agency notes that Ukraine relies on financial support from its partners to cover its budget needs, directing most of its state funds to its defense.
Hungary, an EU member state that maintains cordial relations with Moscow, last month vetoed the release of European aid over a dispute with Kiev over oil supplies through the "Druzhba" pipeline.
"We hope that someone in the EU will not continue to block the 90 million and that Ukrainian soldiers will have weapons," Zelensky told journalists in Kiev. "Otherwise, we will give his address to our armed forces, to our people. Let them call him, and talk to him in their own language," the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelensky's statement is likely to increase tensions between the two leaders, Reuters notes. Hungary has vetoed European aid and new EU sanctions against Russia in response to Orban's alleged deliberate halt to Russian crude oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.
Kiev claims the supply was cut off by a Russian strike on the facility and says Ukraine is trying to repair the damage as quickly as possible. Zelensky said the Soviet-era pipeline could be operational again within a month and a half.
"They (the Russians) are killing us, and we are supposed to give poor little Orban oil because without it he won't win the election," Zelensky said.
Hungary's parliamentary vote is due in April, and the war in Ukraine has become a central theme in Orban's re-election campaign.