The Hungarian government has a plan to interrupt electricity supplies to Ukraine, said Viktor Orbán at an election campaign event in the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen on Saturday. There is a dossier on this that can be opened if the Ukrainian oil blockade is not lifted, however, the government only wants to use it as a last resort, the Prime Minister noted.
Hungary plays a particularly important role in Ukraine’s electricity supply: based on the latest data, almost half of Ukraine’s imports already come from Hungary, Világgazdaság reports. Due to Ukraine’s rising energy demand and limited production capacity, the importance of Hungarian exports has increased significantly in recent months.
According to energy analysis company ExPro, Ukraine imported a total of 1.26 million megawatt hours of electricity in February 2026, setting a new monthly record.
Hungary accounted for 49% of the total, making it the largest supplier to the Ukrainian electricity market.
Furthermore, growth came primarily from Hungary: imports from Hungary rose by almost 54% within a month.
This is by far the largest increase among the supplier countries. The second most important partner was Slovakia, accounting for 18% of Ukrainian imports. The data for February shows that imports from both Hungary and Slovakia have risen to record levels.
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This is remarkable, as several political forecasts had previously expected a decline in imports. In reality, however, electricity imports have continued to rise. The Ukrainian electricity system is increasingly dependent on imports:
Compared to February 2025, the volume of imports has increased fivefold,
that clearly illustrates the transformation of the market. Furthermore, Ukraine has not exported any electricity at all this year, completely reversing the energy balance and turning the war-torn country into a net importer.
The above shows that Hungary and Slovakia have strong leverage over Ukraine. In a situation where Russian oil has not been delivered from Ukraine for almost a month and a half, it could become increasingly likely, primarily for political reasons, that the governments will use this leverage.
On Saturday, Viktor Orbán gave a response on this matter that is unlikely to reassure Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President. He first made it clear that Hungarians also live on the other side of the border. But the interests of the Ukrainian people are serious in themselves.
It is not the Ukrainian people who are our enemies, but the leaders who are turning Ukraine against us,”
the Hungarian prime minister explained.
However, he made it clear that such a plan does indeed exist: “We only want to take measures that hurt people as a last resort. That is why we are leaving this open until the end; I am not ruling it out. As I have already mentioned, I also have a plan, not just them. This plan has various sub-points. We will then open the file that we need to open,” said the Prime Minister. He added, however, that he would avoid implementing it if possible so as not to harm the Hungarians and Ukrainians living in Ukraine.
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Via Világgazdaság, Featured image: Pixabay
