EU leaders will meet in Copenhagen on Wednesday for an informal European Council meeting, testing how far Brussels is willing to go to sideline Viktor Orbán. Council President António Costa is lobbying to bypass Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s accession talks and on the use of frozen Russian assets—an approach Budapest says violates treaties and destroys institutional balance.
Hungary has retaliated against Ukraine’s decision to block foreign outlets by banning access to several Ukrainian sites, including Ukrainska Pravda. Minister Gergely Gulyás called Kyiv’s move censorship, arguing that silencing critical media undermines its EU bid.
Hungarian Gripens scrambled from Šiauliai, Lithuania, on 25 September to intercept Russian jets near Latvia. NATO praised Hungary’s role in protecting Baltic airspace, even as Budapest faces criticism within the Alliance for its stance on Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke on Wednesday about Russian energy, tariffs, and the war in Ukraine. The call came as Trump urged Europe to end Russian imports, while Budapest insists geography leaves it no choice. FM Péter Szijjártó stressed that Hungary’s energy security is a matter of pipelines, not ideology.
Ukraine’s security service has blocked 15 outlets from Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and Greece—including Hungary’s Origo and Demokrata—accusing them of spreading Russian propaganda. Demokrata editor-in-chief András Bencsik slammed the move as proof Ukraine has become a ‘rotten, corrupt dictatorship’ that tramples free speech.
Has Hungary made efforts to diversify its energy resources since 2022? What alternative energy supply routes does Hungary have? What will Hungary do if Donald Trump asks it to stop buying Russian oil? We spoke with the Hungarian State Secretary for Energy about Hungary’s energy policy.
At talks in Budapest with Ukraine’s Deputy PM Taras Kachka, Hungarian FM Péter Szijjártó placed full blame on Kyiv for deteriorating relations, citing curtailed minority rights and strikes on the Druzhba pipeline. He declared Hungary opposes Ukraine’s EU accession, offering only a strategic partnership as a realistic path.
Polish authorities say drones allegedly tied to Russia entered their airspace during strikes on Ukraine, prompting NATO talks. The timing is notable: days earlier, former president Andrzej Duda revealed Kyiv had pushed Poland to pin the 2022 Przewodów strike on Moscow. Hungary’s Orbán pledged solidarity but highlighted the need for peace, not escalation.
Hungary’s relations with Ukraine are at a historic low, but Budapest remains open to dialogue, Péter Szijjártó said on Monday. Blaming Kyiv for curtailing Transcarpathian Hungarian rights, he announced that Ukrainian FM Andrii Sybiha will visit Budapest this week despite recent tensions over the Druzhba pipeline and Ukraine’s EU accession.
Poland’s former president Andrzej Duda says Ukraine attempted to manipulate Warsaw into blaming Russia for the 2022 Przewodów missile strike. Duda argued that Zelenskyy’s insistence was meant to pull Poland into war—a claim that now casts other incidents in a new light.