MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga sharply criticized top Hungarian diplomat Peter Szijjarto.
"I will reply in a Hungarian manner. You don’t need to tell the Ukrainian president what to do or say, and when. He is the president of Ukraine, not Hungary. Hungary’s energy security is in your own hands. Diversify and become independent from Russia, like the rest of Europe," Sibiga wrote on his X page.
Earlier on Sunday, Vladimir Zelensky, responding to a question at a press conference about whether the attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline infrastructure had increased Kiev’s chances of lifting Hungary's veto on Ukraine's accession to the EU, replied: "We have always supported friendship between Ukraine and Hungary, and now the existence of this ‘friendship’ depends on Hungary."
These statements almost immediately provoked a negative reaction from Budapest. In particular, Szijjarto stated that "in recent days, Ukraine has carried out serious attacks against our energy supply," adding that "an attack on energy security is an attack on sovereignty." "A war to which Hungary has nothing to do with can never justify violating our sovereignty. We call on Zelensky to stop threatening Hungary and to end the reckless attacks on our energy security!" the top diplomat noted.
This week, the Ukrainian military carried out several strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline infrastructure on Russian territory. Oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia have been suspended while the pipeline is being repaired. Budapest is in contact with Moscow on this issue.