Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, stated openly that ‘Hungarians and Slovaks should send soldiers to Ukraine’ during Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.
Speaking on Wednesday in Budapest, Szijjártó explained that ‘a new situation has emerged in Brussels.’ ‘For the first time, it was expressed as an expectation that Hungarian soldiers should also go to Ukraine,’ he said, adding that it also became clear that ‘the European Commission and the Ukrainians are colluding with regard to blocking oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline.’
According to Szijjártó, Kaja Kallas’ proposal came as the foreign minister of Luxembourg asked Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Shyba why Hungarian and Slovak experts could not travel to Ukraine to examine the pipeline, as the two EU member states accuse Kyiv of deliberately not resuming transit of Russian oil despite Druzhba technically working. ‘After long seconds of hesitation, silence, and looking around, he finally managed to say that he would need to consult on the matter,’ Szijjártó continued.
‘So it has effectively been proven what both we and the Slovaks already know from the Ukrainian system operator, namely that there are no technical, physical, or engineering obstacles to restarting oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline,’ he emphasized.
Deliveries through Druzhba have been halted since 27 January. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced last Friday that Hungary will block the €90 billion loan—agreed by EU leaders in December 2025, with Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary opting out—until Ukraine resumes transit on Druzhba. The move follows coordinated steps by Budapest and Bratislava, including halting diesel exports to Kyiv.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico also warned that Slovakia would cut electricity exports to Ukraine if transit is not restored, while Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó blocked the 20th sanctions package at Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council.
According to Szijjártó, responding to the exchange between the Luxembourg and Ukrainian foreign ministers, Kaja Kallas suggested that ‘Hungarians and Slovaks should rather send soldiers to Ukraine’ instead of experts. ‘This was the first occasion when an expectation for us to send troops was openly, clearly, and directly articulated,’ Szijjártó concluded.
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