Orbán on Zelensky's threat: I don't think this is about me, but about Hungary

"We will break the oil blockade, and no threats to my life will deter me from doing so," Viktor Orbán said on Thursday, responding to Volodymyr Zelensky's remarks in which the Ukrainian president said he hoped no one would block his country's new EU loan, otherwise he would give their address to the army so they could talk to him “in their own language” – an apparent reference to Viktor Orbán.

"I don't think this is about me, but about Hungary," the Prime Minister added.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had a similar reaction:

"It is beyond all norms that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has practically threatened Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with death," he said.

Zelensky had made the threatening remarks directed at the Hungarian Prime Minister after Viktor Orbán, speaking at the conference of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (MKIK) stressed that they would "break the Ukrainian oil blockade by force".

Magyar: Give them my address too

Opposition leader Péter Magyar also reacted to the Ukrainian President's message at his rally in Szarvas. The president of the Tisza Party said that “no foreign head of state can threaten any Hungarian”, and he called on the Ukrainian president to clarify his words and, if he had indeed said this, to retract his statement. He added that the Ukrainians must report on the condition of the Friendship oil pipeline and restart oil deliveries as soon as possible. Magyar called on the European Union to sever all ties with Ukraine until Zelensky apologizes for his statement, and also sent a message to the Ukrainian president, saying that he should feel free to give his address to the Ukrainian armed forces as well.

He also sent a message to Putin, who said on Thursday that Hungary would continue to receive natural gas from Russia as long as it continued to pursue its current policy, saying that neither Ukraine nor Russia can blackmail Hungary, which is a sovereign member of NATO and the EU. As he said, Hungary is a free country, its citizens and its government will never allow themselves to be threatened by other countries, and its energy supply is an issue that transcends party politics and campaigns. According to Magyar, Orbán must be removed from office on April 12 because he is incapable of getting anything done, but his domestic political machinations are plunging our country into chaos.

"There will only be peace here if we change the system on April 12. Until then, my message to President Zelensky is that he can feel free to also pass on my address to the Ukrainian armed forces . Neither Vladimir Putin nor Volodymyr Zelensky can blackmail or threaten me," Magyar said.

The increasingly heated messaging between the two countries' leaders started after the shutdown of the Friendship oil pipeline at the end of January, which prompted the Hungarian oil giant Mol to request the Hungarian government's approval for releasing Hungary's strategic oil reserves in mid-February. Two days later, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungary would not supply diesel to Ukraine until crude oil deliveries were resumed, and two days after that, he announced that Hungary would do the same with the €90 billion EU loan intended for Ukraine. Last week, the situation escalated further, with the Hungarian government talking about a blockade and Orbán, fearing Ukrainian attacks, deploying troops to the country's key energy facilities.

Zelensky, who previously claimed that the oil pipeline could not be repaired quickly, according to Bloomberg, has now said that Ukraine could make it operational within a month or a month and a half, but he would not actually repair it, while Orbán said that they would “break the oil blockade by force”.