Hungary’s leader blocked a $104 billion EU loan to Kyiv, ostensibly over repairs to an oil pipeline in Ukraine but which critics characterized as political grandstanding ahead of a tight election at home next month.
Viktor Orbán has demanded access to Russian oil in exchange for Budapest’s support, a move Germany’s chancellor slammed as a “gross act of disloyalty.” Analysts and diplomats said that Orbán was maneuvering for a domestic audience, with Politico reporting that Brussels was now planning to simply wait for the polls to see if the longtime Hungarian leader loses.
On the battlefield, Ukraine has been “imposing increasing challenges on Russia at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels,” the Institute for the Study of War noted.
