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Published on 20/03/2026 – 17:09 GMT+1

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán raised the prospect of further actions his government could take against Ukraine to force the resumption of Russian oil deliveries that have been stalled to Hungary and Slovakia since January.

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Speaking to media in Brussels a day after he again blocked a €90 billion loan to Kyiv, Orbán said he and his government have “a lot of cards in our hands” beyond holding up the financial aid Ukraine needs to equip its armed forces and keep its economy running.

“We have other tools as well,” he said. “40% of Ukraine’s electricity supply goes through Hungary, we haven’t touched that yet. (The EU) constantly wants to introduce new sanctions (against Russia). That will require unanimity and we will not give it.”

Oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline were interrupted after what Ukraine said was a Russian drone strike damaged the pipeline’s infrastructure. Hungary and Slovakia are the only EU countries to continue importing Russian oil.

Orbán insists that Ukraine has purposely sabotaged the pipeline to orchestrate an energy crisis ahead of a tight election on 12 April and has promised to block all EU measures to assist Kyiv until shipments resume.

In an effort to persuade Orbán to lift his block on the loan, EU officials on Tuesday said the bloc had offered Ukraine technical support and funding to repair the pipeline, an offer Kyiv accepted.

Orbán also threatened on Friday to veto the EU’s next seven-year budget if it includes financial aid for Ukraine, adding: “We have a lot of cards in our hands, so I don’t think it’s worth picking a fight with Hungary.”

EU leaders rebuke behaviour tantamount to ‘blackmail’

Outraged EU leaders rounded on Orbán on Thursday over his continued blocking of the loan for Ukraine, accusing him of holding up critical aid and undermining EU decision-making in an effort to win an election at home.

The condemnation was led by António Costa, the usually mild-mannered president of the European Council, whose authority is being directly challenged by Orbán’s disruption.

“The leaders took the floor to condemn the attitude from Viktor Orbán, to remember that a deal is a deal and all the leaders need to honour that word,” Costa said at the end of the summit, venting months of frustration over the antics of the Hungarian.

“Nobody can blackmail the European Council. Nobody can blackmail the European Union institutions,” he told reporters, insisting that the loan will be paid out as agreed last December.

Zelenskyy says Orbán’s allegation against Ukraine about its responsibility for damaging the Druzhba pipeline is unfounded but has also lashed out in public at Orbán in multiple occasions.

Costa, according to a diplomat, said both must tone down the rhetoric, but also noted that Hungary is putting on the table impossible conditions, such as ensuring the safety of transit, while Russia keeps pounding Ukraine with missiles and drones.

“This is not acting in good faith, when you put a condition that neither the European Union nor the member states can ensure,” Costa said.

As Orbán faces what is expected to be the tightest election of his career on 12 April, he has increasingly relied on a broad anti-Ukraine campaign portraying the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as an existential threat to Hungary.

He has alleged that the Ukrainian leader, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, wants to drag Hungary into Russia’s war, now in its fifth year, and has argued that his re-election is the only guarantee of peace and security.

Additional sources • AP

Household energy bills in Great Britain could increase by more than £330 a year to almost £2,000 from this summer after the Iran war pushed the UK’s gas market past three-year highs.

A typical combined household gas and electricity bill is now forecast to reach £1,972 a year from July under the UK government’s quarterly price cap, according to analysis by the energy consultancy Cornwall Insight,.

The fresh forecast has soared above an estimate from two weeks ago when the consultants predicted, after only five days of war in the Middle East, that the price cap could climb to £1,800 a year from July, up from the £1,641 cap for April to June.

The current cap was set by Great Britain’s industry regulator, Ofgem, at £117 below the previous cap in a brief reprieve from rising bills for millions of households – but prices are expected to rise sharply from the summer.

The latest forecast for a 20% increase in household energy costs was fuelled by a rise in European gas prices this week after a significant escalation in the Middle East conflict during which some of the region’s most important infrastructure was targeted for the first time since the conflict began three weeks ago.

Gas prices in Europe rose 30% on Thursday after Qatar confirmed missiles had caused extensive damage at the world’s biggest processing facility for seaborne liquefied natural gas and that it could take up to five years to repair. Tankers of oil and gas from the Gulf remain unable to enter the global market via the strait of Hormuz, which is effectively under the control of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Europe’s gas markets eased on Friday, but prices remained twice as high since the start of the war. The market price for UK gas delivered next month also eased, down 2% to 153p a therm on Friday from highs of 180p on Thursday, but also remain almost double the level before the Iran war began.

British motorists also face higher energy costs at the pump. Petrol prices have rose by almost 8% in the last three weeks to 143.35p a litre as global oil prices climbed to three-and-a-half-year highs. Diesel prices are 15% higher at 163.73p a litre.

The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, traded at about $107 a barrel on Friday after falling from highs of $119 the day before. The global oil price remains almost 50% higher than before the conflict began.

Households are also facing higher UK mortgage rates even though the Bank of England left base rates on hold at 3.75% on Thursday.

The average two-year fixed mortgage rate has risen from 4.83% at the start of March to 5.35% on Friday, according to the data provider Moneyfacts. That increase will have added about an extra £900 a year to the cost of borrowing £250,000 over 25 years.

Moneyfacts calculated that if the Bank’s base rate rises to 4% or 4.25%, as market pricing predicts, the average interest on new mortgages could stabilise at about 5.50% to 5.75%.

That could add an extra £1,000 to £1,500 a year to the cost of borrowing £250,000 over 25 years, compared with rates at the beginning of March.

Adam French, the head of consumer finance at Moneyfacts, said: “Swap rates, which underpin mortgage pricing, have risen sharply following the decision to hold the base rate at 3.75%, with markets interpreting commentary from the Bank of England as leaving the door open to rate rises amid ‘Trumpflation’ fears.

“With two- and five-year swaps now sitting at their highest level in more than a year, lenders are once again facing higher funding costs, and this will feed through into mortgage pricing.”

Meanwhile, the risk of a steep increase in household energy costs emerged as the world’s energy watchdog urged global governments to consider Covid-style emergency measures to help reduce energy use.

The International Energy Agency said several governments were already considering policies to conserve energy. These include asking people to work from home where possible to reduce commuting and incentivising the use of public transport or sharing vehicles when travel is unavoidable.

The Paris-based agency has also suggested that governments could lower highway speed limits by at least 10km/h (6.2mph) to reduce fuel use for passenger vehicles and freight.

The IEA’s energy-saving measures focus primarily on road transport, which accounts for about 45% of the world’s oil demand. However, the agency has also set out plans to conserve liquefied petroleum gas in transport and heavy industry in developing countries where LPG is heavily used by households.