EC says Zelensky's veiled threat to Orbán unacceptable

The European Commission’s spokesperson was asked how they would respond to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's statements made on Thursday, which were implicitly addressed to Viktor Orbán. There must not be threats against EU member states,” Olof Gill said on Friday, adding that Brussels is “in active discussions with all sides”.

As the EC sees it, “at the moment there is a lot of escalating rhetoric and inflammatory rhetoric. We believe that such rhetoric from all sides is neither helpful nor conducive to achieving the common goals we all have here.

Specifically in relation to the comments made by President Zelenskyy, we are very clear as the European Commission that that type of language is not acceptable. There must not be threats against EU member states,”he said, adding that Brussels is “in active discussions with all sides”.

The European Commission also said that it is aware of reports of a Ukrainian cash shipment seized by Hungarian authorities, but has no further information on the matter. The European Commission is also monitoring the tensions between Hungary and Ukraine surrounding the Druzhba oil pipeline.

On the subject of the EU loan to Ukraine, President Zelensky said this week, in a veiled reference to Orbán: "We hope that a certain person in the EU will not block the 90 billion or the first installment of it, and that Ukrainian soldiers will be able to get their weapons. Otherwise, we will give this person's address to the armed forces, so they can call him and talk to him in their own language".