'I will reply in a Hungarian manner' – Ukrainian FM to Szijjártó

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha replied to Péter Szijjártó on Sunday, after the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade had sent a message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The spat began with Szijjártó's post on X in which he wrote that Zelensky was using Ukraine's Independence Day, August 24, to intimidate Hungary. The Hungarian Foreign Minister stated that they reject the Ukrainian president's intimidation.

“We regard sovereignty and territorial integrity as fundamental values of international politics. That is why we respect every country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and expect the same in return. In recent days Ukraine has carried out serious attacks against our energy supply. An attack on energy security is an attack on sovereignty.” Szijjártó also added that “Hungary has nothing to do” with the Russian-Ukrainian war, and that such a war “should never justify an attack on sovereignty”. He called on Zelensky “to stop threatening Hungary and to end the reckless attacks on our energy security”.

Sybiha responded by saying:

“I will reply in a Hungarian manner. You don’t need to tell the Ukrainian President what to do or say, and when. He is the President of Ukraine, not Hungary. Hungary’s energy security is in your own hands. Diversify and become independent from Russia, like the rest of Europe.”

Later on, Szijjártó responded to Sybiha’s comment in a new post, writing: “Stop attacking our energy security! This is not our war!”

Sybiha called the Hungarian leadership out last week as well, when he wrote that Szijjártó "should send his threats to his friends in Moscow". This was preceded by the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade warning Ukraine not to attack the oil pipelines, as electricity from Hungary plays a key role in Ukraine's energy supply. "Péter, it is Russia, not Ukraine, who began this war and refuses to end it," Sybiha wrote then.

Péter Szijjártó had announced on Facebook on 18 August that Ukraine had attacked the Friendship (Druzhba) pipeline that leads to Hungary, causing crude oil deliveries to Hungary to be halted.

The Hungarian oil giant, MOL, announced a day later that crude oil was flowing through the pipeline again. Szijjártó responded to the news of the restoration by saying that they expect Ukraine not to carry out similar attacks "against a pipeline that is critical to our country's energy supply," in the future and then thanked the Russian deputy energy minister for having the pipeline repaired.