Oil flows from Russia to Hungary have been cut off since Russian attacks damaged a pipeline running through Ukraine. However, Hungary accuses Ukraine of lying about the damage and has taken an increasingly harsh tone towards its neighbor.
"We will stop things passing through Hungary that are important for Ukraine until we receive Ukraine's permission for oil deliveries," Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Hungarian radio on Friday, according to the AFP news agency.
A transport carrying gold and cash worth hundreds of millions of kronor, in which seven bank employees were en route to Ukraine, has been stopped by Hungary, which is now expelling the group.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accuses them in a post on X of being part of a “Ukrainian war mafia.”
Election campaign
Hungary is also blocking the EU's new multi-billion dollar loan to Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia over the oil embargo.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has begun repairs to the oil pipeline but has warned that it will take at least four weeks.
Zelenskyy is very angry with Orbán, whom he believes is exploiting the situation to try to reverse a looming electoral loss in Hungary's upcoming parliamentary election on April 12.
"They (the Russians) are killing us and we are expected to give poor little Orbán oil, because otherwise he won't win the election," Zelenskyy hissed on Thursday, according to the news site Politico Europe.
“Threats to Hungary”
Zelenskyy also used even tougher words in his demands that "a certain person" stop blocking the 90 billion krona loan.
"Otherwise, we will give this person's address to our armed forces, our guys. Let them call him and talk to him in their language," Zelenskyy said - which was immediately met with an outcry in Hungary.
"He threatens Hungary. But unfortunately for him, he cannot stop me from protecting Hungarian families," Viktor Orbán writes on X.
The European Commission also criticizes Zelenskyy's choice of words.
That type of language is not acceptable, says spokesman Olof Gill, who at the same time urges the parties to tone down the rhetoric.
