Orban steps up oil accusations against Ukraine after vetoing EU loan to Kyiv

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he has stationed soldiers at key energy facilities across the country after he blamed Ukraine for disrupting energy supplies.

Orban, who is trailing in opinion polls ahead of pivotal elections next month, has accused Kyiv of imposing an "oil blockade" on Hungary by deliberately delaying the reopening of the Druzhba pipeline.

Ukraine says the pipeline was damaged by Russian strikes last month and its repair crews have been injured by further attacks.

Druzhba is the main route for delivering Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia and shipments of Russian oil to both countries have been cut off since 27 January.

The Hungarian leader, who is seen as Russia's closest partner in the EU, argues the suspension of the critical oil flow is purely political and has accused Ukraine of "preparing further actions", including sabotage, four years into Russia's full-scale war.

However, Orban's critics say he has been stepping up the war of words with Ukraine in order to convince the public that Hungary is under attack in the run-up to the 12 April vote. Most opinion polls suggest his Fidesz party is at risk of losing power after 16 years.

This week he vetoed a €90bn (£78bn) EU loan to Ukraine and blocked the 20th package of sanctions on Moscow.

In an open letter on social media on Thursday, he accused Ukraine, the EU and opposition parties of "co-ordinating efforts to bring a pro-Ukraine government to power in Hungary".

The EU has urged Kyiv to speed up reopening the pipeline, but Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said "they advise us to repair it, but they know that there have already been attacks on Druzhba".

Slovakia's leader Robert Fico, also seen as one of Russia's closest European partners, has accused Zelensky of stalling. On Monday, his government said it would stop providing emergency power supplies to Ukraine until oil supplies resumed through the pipeline.

Ukraine has had to increase imports from its European neighbours because of acute power shortages throughout the winter caused by intensified Russian attacks on its electricity and gas networks.

The European Commission made clear on Wednesday that while Hungary and Slovakia had begun using their emergency oil supplies there was no risk of a shortages and there were alternative sources for both countries.

"Croatia confirmed... that non-Russian crude oil is being transported through the Adria pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia," European Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said after experts met to discuss the situation.

"It remains the main alternative pipeline for Hungary and Slovakia to cover their needs, and the pipeline has sufficient capacity to increase volumes to fully cover the Hungarian Slovakian requirements," she said.

Ukraine's military has repeatedly attacked Russian oil facilities inside Russia itself, and a Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil pumping station in Tatarstan earlier this week.

The attacks forced Russia's oil operator to reduce the amount of crude oil it takes into its system by about 250,000 barrels a day, according to Reuters news agency.

In his message on Thursday, Orban accused Zelensky of blocking the Druzhba pipeline as an "anti-Hungarian policy", a day after he accused Kyiv of "preparing further actions to disrupt Hungary's energy system".

Following a meeting of the Hungarian Defence Council on Wednesday, he said soldiers had been deployed to energy stations, police would patrol power stations, and drones were banned in Hungary's north-east border region with Ukraine.

There is no indication that Ukraine is planning any kind of attack, and its armed forces are already severely stretched in a four-year full-scale Russian invasion along a front line of about 1,200km (750 miles).

Zelensky did not immediately respond to the accusation, however Orban has long sought to portray Kyiv as trying to drag Hungary into the war, and he has repeatedly tried to block financial aid to Ukraine.