Here’s the headline from the Financial Times:
Ukraine is under pressure to let the EU inspect a damaged pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, as the two pro-Kremlin countries accuse Kyiv of overstating the impact of an attack by Moscow. https://t.co/MyJDswZ0Wj pic.twitter.com/BEC76D3Ln6
— Financial Times (@FT) March 3, 2026
In recent weeks Hungary’s government, led by Viktor Orbán, along with Slovakia’s, led by Robert Fico, have demanded that their inspectors be let into Ukraine to verify its claim that Russian bombs have damaged the Friendship Pipeline which carries cheap energy into these countries. Since January, the pipeline has been shut, sending energy prices soaring in Hungary ahead of hotly contested national elections there this April. As a countermeasure, Hungary used its veto to block $90 million in additional EU aid to Ukraine.
The EU getting involved is a flashing red sign that the ploy against Orbán was not working, or possibly backfiring. Although Brussels would love to see Orbán’s party lose elections, it cannot be seen as giving cover or aid to a non-EU government messing with the internal politics of Hungary, without basically vindicating Orbán’s claims about Brussels and Ukraine, and guaranteeing his reelection.