Hungary's Orbán accused of disloyalty and blackmail over Ukraine loan veto

European Union leaders have accused Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of disloyalty and blackmail after he blocked a €90bn (£77bn) loan for Ukraine. "No oil = no money," Orbán said in a post on X after Thursday's summit in Brussels during which he refused to lift his veto, citing a feud over a damaged pipeline that transports Russian oil to Hungary. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Orbán's actions amounted to "a gross act of disloyalty", while European Council head António Costa described them as tantamount to "blackmail". Orbán - who has maintained close ties with Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion in Ukraine in 2022 - has made hostility towards Ukraine a key issue ahead of elections on 12 April. Hungary depends on Russian energy and Orbán has accused Ukraine of disrupting these energy supplies by failing to repair a Soviet-era pipeline, called Druzhba, which carries Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia through Ukraine. Kyiv says the pipeline was damaged in January by Russian air strikes, that its repair will last for weeks - but also that restoring the flow of oil would be equivalent to lifting sanctions on Moscow. While the pipeline remains out of use, Orbá