Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has accused Ukraine of putting the European Union in a difficult economic situation by stopping the transit of Russian gas. Source: Szijjártó on Facebook, as reported by European Pravda Details: Szijjártó said that "even the most fanatical Brussels officials" cannot deny that the competitiveness of the European Union has "deteriorated sharply" in recent years.

Russia’s share of the EU pipeline natural gas market dropped sharply to about 8% in 2023, according to data from the EU Commission. The Ukrainian transit route served EU members Austria and Slovakia, which long got the bulk of their natural gas from Russia but have recently scrambled to diversify supplies.

A Ukrainian pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to Europe was closed Wednesday after Ukraine declined to renew the deal keeping it open.