{"id":13234,"date":"2026-02-24T00:25:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13234"},"modified":"2026-02-24T00:25:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:25:51","slug":"eu-sanctions-russian-officials-as-hungary-blocks-funds-to-ukraine-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13234","title":{"rendered":"EU sanctions Russian officials as Hungary blocks funds to Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>European Union fails to approve further Russia sanctions and a $106bn loan to Ukraine after Hungary refuses to agree.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">4 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The European Union has imposed sanctions on a new group of eight Russian individuals suspected of serious human rights violations, as EU member state Hungary vetoed additional sanctions on Moscow and a crucial loan for Ukraine on the eve of the war\u2019s fourth anniversary.<\/p>\n<p>The European Council on Monday said the individuals were members of the judiciary responsible \u2060for sentencing prominent Russian activists on politically motivated charges, as well as heads of penal colonies where political prisoners were held in inhuman and degrading conditions.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Under the sanctions, the individuals are banned from \u2060travelling to or transiting through the EU, their \u2060assets are frozen, and EU citizens and companies are prohibited from making funds available to them.<\/p>\n<p>So far, 72 individuals have been hit by similar measures, including members of the judiciary, Ministry \u2060of Justice officials, and senior figures within Russia\u2019s prison \u2060network.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement came as the bloc failed to agree on a 20th sanctions package targeting the \u200cRussian authorities more broadly and \u200ca $106bn loan for Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Hungary, the friendliest EU state to the Kremlin, vetoed the measures \u2013 which required unanimous approval within the EU bloc \u2013 following claims that Kyiv is delaying restarting the flow of Russian oil via a Soviet-era pipeline.<\/p>\n<p>Kyiv says the Druzhba pipeline, which still carries Russian oil over Ukrainian territory to Europe, was damaged a month ago by a Russian drone strike, and it is fixing it as fast as it can.<\/p>\n<p>Hungary and Slovakia, which have the EU\u2019s only \u2060two refineries that still rely on oil via Druzhba, blame Ukraine for the delay.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions were further exacerbated on Monday as Ukrainian security officials claimed to have launched a drone attack that sparked a fire at a Russian pumping station serving the Druzhba oil \u2060pipeline.<img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4322426\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-EASTERN-UKRAINE-copy-1771420406.png?quality=80\" alt=\"INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN EASTERN UKRAINE copy-1771420406\" data-interactive=\"true\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"essage-we-didn-t-want-to-send\">\u2018Message we didn\u2019t want to send\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters ahead of the EU meeting that Budapest would block the loan as Kyiv had taken the \u201cpolitical decision\u201d to \u201cendanger our energy security\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Druzhba pipeline has not been hit by any Russian attack, the pipeline itself has not been harmed, and currently there is no physical reason and no physical obstacle to reinstall the deliveries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the failure to approve the new package a \u201csetback and message we didn\u2019t want to send today, but the work continues\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X that Hungary and Slovakia should not be allowed to \u201chold the entire EU hostage\u201d and called on them to \u201cengage in constructive cooperation and responsible behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Maximilian Hess, an analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said the loan was \u201ccrucial for keeping Kyiv able to finance itself going forward in this conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Hess argued Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is using the issue to his political advantage ahead of elections on April 12.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOrban is trying to make this a political issue, and he\u2019s trying to blame his own economic difficulties on Ukraine [to boost] his chances in this election,\u201d the analyst told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>Independent polls suggest the right-wing nationalist leader is facing the most serious challenge yet in his 16 years as prime minister.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>European Union fails to approve further Russia sanctions and a $106bn loan to Ukraine after Hungary refuses to agree. Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a04 mins info The European Union has imposed sanctions on a new group of eight Russian individuals suspected of serious human rights violations, as EU member state Hungary vetoed additional sanctions on Moscow [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}