Hungary has vetoed a \u20ac50 billion ($54 billion) European financial aid package to Ukraine, just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy failed to persuade U.S. lawmakers to approve an additional $61 billion for the war-torn country.<\/p>\n
The aid was vetoed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, delivering another tough blow to Zelenskyy who is heavily dependent on the European Union and U.S. funding to stave off Russian forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to Ukraine\u2026 We will come back to the issue next year in the European Council after proper preparation,\u2019 Orb\u00e1n posted to X after an EU leaders summit in Brussels on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The move leaves Zelenskyy in a desperate position for much-needed funding as the war drags on.<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n, who has a history of banking on clashes with other EU leaders for electoral benefit at home, told state radio that he blocked the aid package to Ukraine as part of a multiyear plan to make sure Hungary gets the funds it wants from the EU budget.<\/p>\n
\u2018It is a great opportunity for Hungary to make it clear that it must get what it is entitled to. Not half of it, or one-fourth,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Russia intended for its invasion to last only a few weeks, but Ukraine\u2019s surprising and effective resistance dragged the conflict out as it nears a third year.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s\u00a0much-promised counteroffensive\u00a0in the second year, however, did not yield the results that Zelenskyy had promised, which has prompted questions from Congress over both the amount of aid and the timeline for how long the U.S. could or should provide ongoing assistance to Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy, in an exclusive interview with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier on \u2018Special Report,\u2019 insisted the question of funding Ukraine is not financial but \u2018moral,\u2019 as he urged the U.S. to keep backing his people.<\/p>\n
Despite Orb\u00e1n\u2019s veto, the Hungarian leader did not stand in the way of the EU opening accession talks with Ukraine that could see it join the 27-member bloc in the future, a strategic goal of Zelenskyy, who wants to align the country closer with the West.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy hailed the approval of membership talks as a victory for Ukraine and Europe.<\/p>\n
However, Orb\u00e1n warned Hungary could still block the talks at any time.<\/p>\n
\u2018This is a bad decision,\u2019 the nationalist leader said, according to Reuters. \u2018We can halt this process later on, and if needed we will pull the brakes, and the ultimate decision will be made by the Hungarian parliament.\u2019<\/p>\n
Decisions on enlarging the EU and on a review of its long-term budget, which includes the $54 billion in aid for the government in Kyiv, must be unanimous among all 27 member countries.<\/p>\n
Fox News\u2019s Peter Aiken, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n\n
Hungary has vetoed a \u20ac50 billion ($54 billion) European financial aid package to Ukraine, just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy failed to persuade U.S. lawmakers to approve an additional $61 billion for the war-torn country. The aid was vetoed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, delivering another tough blow to Zelenskyy who is heavily <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}