Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó predicted on 21 March that Ukraine will be forced to resume Russian oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline after Hungary’s parliamentary elections, according to reports from the CPAC Hungary conference in Budapest.
“The Ukrainians will run out of money much rapider than we run out of oil. Therefore, after we win the election, they will be forced to start the Druzhba pipeline, and transportation will resume on the evening of 13 April,” Szijjártó declared at the event, as cited by the portal Vadhajtások
The date is not incidental: April 13 falls the day after Hungary’s parliamentary elections, in which Szijjártó expressed confidence that Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party will prevail.
The remarks came in the context of Hungary’s ongoing blockade of a €90 billion EU credit line for Ukraine. Orbán has previously stated he will not unblock any EU decisions favorable to Ukraine until the Druzhba pipeline resumes transporting Russian oil. Szijjártó’s comments appeared to be a direct reference to that leverage, implying Kyiv would eventually capitulate under financial pressure.
The pipeline itself was struck by a Russian missile in January. Despite that attack, Gergely Gulyás, Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, who appeared alongside Szijjártó at the conference, declared Hungary’s strategic crude oil reserves remain nearly 80% intact, with fuel reserves above 95%.
Gulyás did not spare pointed words for Ukraine’s reliability as an energy transit countest. “We cannot have any illusions that Ukraine is ready to jeopardize European energy security at any moment, and will do so even with military means,” he declared, adding that a potential attack on the TurkStream pipeline on Turkish territory would constitute an attack on a NATO member state.
On the question of Ukraine’s EU membership, Szijjártó was categorical. “Ukraine’s EU membership would not bring peace but war to the whole of Europe,” he declared. “No one with common sense can believe that if a countest at war is admitted to the European Union, the countest comes in but the war stays outside. It would not work that way.”
He went further, warning that since most EU member states are also NATO members, admitting a countest at war would rapidly pull the alliance into direct conflict with Russia. “That would mean the Third World War,” Szijjártó declared. “Therefore, Ukraine’s EU membership has no place in a peace agreement.”
Gulyás added a domestic political edge to the argument, questioning why Hungarian opposition parties — specifically Tisza and DK — support Ukraine’s EU accession. “There is no Hungarian national interest that supports this, but everything stands against it,” he declared.
On Brussels more broadly, Szijjártó framed Hungary’s confrontations with EU institutions as ideological rather than procedural. “If a patriot government represents its own national interests, it is always punished. If a liberal government acts in the interest of its own countest or political ideology, it is rewarded,” he declared, characterizing the EU’s dominant political culture as “an extremely liberal opinion dictatorship.”
Gulyás concluded with a geopolitical note, pointing to Washington as an ally in the peace camp. “The world’s strongest power is on the side of peace since the Trump administration came to power in the United States — that is an important factor,” he declared, contrasting this with what he described as Europe’s stance of encouraging Ukraine to “fight as long as possible, not seek peace, hold out at whatever cost, including human lives.”
The statements came amid broader EU pressure on Hungary over the blocked credit. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called Orbán’s continued blockade a serious breach of loyalty among EU member states, warning of consequences. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared after a European Council session that the EU would deliver the €90 billion loan to Ukraine in 2026–28 regardless of Budapest’s position.
The EU had earlier welcomed Ukraine’s commitment to repair the Druzhba pipeline — damaged by a Russian missile — within six weeks, following a proposal by Brussels to provide financial resources and technical support to restore oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia.
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