Hungary’s Government Energy Council on Sunday, February 22, reversed previously planned cancellations of electricity deliveries to Ukraine — a move officials said was meant to show concern for ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region.
The council reviewed several issues related to power shipments from Hungary to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
According to Szijjarto, nearly half of the electricity Ukraine imports comes from Hungary.
“We concluded that we must act with particular caution in this matter, because there are Hungarians living across the border, and halting exports would primarily affect Zakarpattia - creating specific problems, challenges and suffering for families on the other side,” he said.
He added that Hungary’s current leadership is not against ordinary Ukrainians. “Our dispute is with the Ukrainian state, the Ukrainian government, with President Zelensky,” the minister said.
In February, Hungary and Slovakia together made up 70% of Ukraine’s power import mix, totaling more than 1.4 GW of additional capacity, energy market analyst Daria Orlova of ExPro Consulting told RBC-Ukraine.
Hungary’s share of imported kilowatt-hours reached 45%, she said, noting the country cannot unilaterally break its contract and stop deliveries because EU transmission system operators are tightly regulated within the ENTSO-E association.
Earlier, Hungary warned it could halt exports of electricity and gas to Ukraine if Kyiv does not resume transporting Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline.
On February 18, the Hungarian government announced it was suspending diesel fuel deliveries to Ukraine, a step Budapest said was necessary to protect its own energy security. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said supplies would not resume until oil transit to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline is restored.
