Good morning.
Just over two years ago, a village mayor near the frontline in Ukraine told me EU funds were a choice between life and death.
“We need this to live. It is really important for us; without money, we have no hope. Our needs are too great,” said Liubov Shevchenko, Pravdyne’s mayor.
At the time, Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán was threatening to torpedo €50bn of aid to Ukraine only days ahead of an EU summit in early 2024.
Orbán ultimately backed down after being asked to leave the room, allowing the remaining 26 EU leaders to reach an agreement.
Now, he is employing the same tactics again by using Ukraine’s fate as leverage to appeal to his domestic audience in the lead-up to the April national elections.
On Thursday (19 March) morning ahead of the EU summit in Brussels, he described his country’s need for Russian oil as "existential" for Hungary.
He said this with a straight face, even though more civilians were killed in his neighboring country, Ukraine, in 2025 than in any other year since Russia launched its invasion.
I imagine Pravdyne's mayor Shevchenko would probably have some choice words for Orbán.
Last year, a Russian drone killed a one-year-old boy in the village. An elderly woman also sustained serious injuries.
Russia had occupied Pravdyne for nine months prior to its liberation by Ukrainian forces. But they had also left behind horrors: cluster bombs, mines, and murder.
During the siege, the Russians shot dead seven of the villagers. In an effort to conceal the crime, they hid the bodies in a house and blew it up.
Hundreds of mines had also been laid in the fields surrounding the village, making it impossible to sow crops.
Ukraine now faces renewed uncertainty as the escalating US–Israeli war against Iran sends oil prices soaring, in a development that stands to strengthen Russia’s hand and bolster its war economy.
All informed people know this - and Russian president Vladimir Putin's mouthpiece in Brussels does so too despite his “existential” rhetoric.
Nikolaj Nielsen, home-affairs editor
What else you need to know
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