By Kim Mackrael and Laurence Norman
BRUSSELS -- Ukraine's ability to continue fighting Russia's invasion was thrown into question on Thursday after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to lift his veto on a loan of more than $100 billion, threatening Kyiv's finances as global attention shifts to the Middle East and oil prices surge.
European Union officials remain hopeful they can resolve the impasse in the coming days. But Ukraine needs the money within weeks to keep its government functioning, so EU officials may be forced to resort to other short-term options for funding Ukraine if no resolution emerges.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged the EU to start delivering the loan at the beginning of this year, but early May is seen as the absolute cutoff to help Kyiv purchase Western weapons and pay for basic services and wages.
Securing funding for Ukraine became a crucial priority for EU leaders, who met Thursday in Brussels, after the Trump administration last year withdrew U.S. financial support for Kyiv. The American pullback left the EU and other European countries on the hook for most of the money Ukraine needs.
War in the Middle East is worsening Ukraine's situation. The conflict has pushed up oil prices, which benefits Russia's stagnant economy. Separately, the U.S. moved this month to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian oil sales, adding more revenue for Moscow. Meanwhile, U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran are draining stocks of military equipment that Europe was buying from Washington for Ukraine.
Orbán in December had agreed in principle to the loan for Ukraine -- which Hungary isn't expected to contribute to -- but reversed course in recent weeks over anger with Kyiv. He has accused Ukraine of deliberately stalling repairs to a damaged pipeline that carries Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, a charge Kyiv denies.
"We are waiting for the oil," Orbán said Thursday morning on his way into the EU leaders' meeting. "Until then, we cannot support any pro-Ukrainian proposal."
Zelensky and the EU's top leaders have said the disruption was caused by Russian attacks.
"Let us be clear about where we stand," European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference after the summit. "The loan remains blocked because one leader is not honoring his word. But let me reiterate what I already said in Kyiv: we will deliver one way or the other."
Orbán, a close ally of U.S. President Trump, has used his opposition to the Ukraine war and the damaged pipeline as a wedge issue ahead of an election next month that his party could lose for the first time in 16 years. His refusal to stick to an earlier agreement to allow the Ukraine loan to proceed is fueling talk in the EU about how to isolate Hungary if he remains in power after Hungary's election.
Thursday's leaders meeting grew tense over Orbán's blocking tactics, reflecting years of frustration with his resistance to many of the bloc's plans.
As the meeting opened, European Council President António Costa -- the usually calm, chatty, former Portuguese prime minister who chairs leaders' summits -- turned to Orbán, who sat a few meters away, and chastised him.
Orbán's decision "is not acceptable," Costa said, and violates principles of good faith and cooperation that make the bloc function, according to an EU official.
Orbán has emerged as an ever more powerful pole of opposition within the bloc over his years in power, breaking with other countries over immigration, relations with Moscow and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Brussels has withheld around $20 billion of funding for Hungary over concerns around corruption and the rule of law.
But he has also become a close ally of Trump, who has recently been blaming Zelensky for blocking a peace deal that Washington has been trying to forge. Trump has given Orbán strong public backing for a coming election in Hungary where Orbán's Fidesz party is struggling in the polls.
Trump is sending Vice President JD Vance to Hungary in coming days to rally support for Orbán, pitting open U.S. backing against a widespread and barely suppressed hope in many EU capitals that Orbán is ousted from power.
The European Commission has mustered a team to try to break the deadlock over Ukraine. The EU sent a technical team to Ukraine this week to inspect the pipeline and estimate how long any repairs might take.
Zelensky said earlier this week that fixing the pipeline could take as long as a month and a half. "Despite daily threats of Russia's ongoing missile and drone attacks, we are undertaking all possible efforts to repair the damage," he wrote in a letter to Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The pipeline issue gives Orbán something concrete to talk about after years of pledging to keep Hungary out of the war and backing Trump's plans to end it, said Zselyke Csaky, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank.
"Orbán is behind in the election campaign and he needed some tangible proof that can make it look like Ukraine posed a threat," she said. "The pipeline provides this excuse."
Write to Kim Mackrael at kim.mackrael@wsj.com and Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2026 20:03 ET (00:03 GMT)
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