The Serbian government has supported negotiations between NIS's Russian owners and Hungarian MOL regarding the sale of a controlling stake. The aim of the deal is to remove the country's largest energy company from under US sanctions.
Ukraine has successfully held its first joint auctions for allocating cross-border interconnection capacity with Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Electricity imports from the EU will become more predictable, and supplies will begin in January.
The Hungarian Prime Minister believes that Brussels allegedly "does not want peace between Russia and Ukraine. "
The draw for the group stage of the 2026/2027 Nations League will take place on February 12, 2026, in Brussels. The Ukrainian national team will compete in League B.
On December 19, the European Union approved €90 billion in funding for Ukraine, which the country will repay after receiving reparations from Russia. Journalists found out how this process took place.
Large-scale schemes for illegal border crossing by conscripts have been exposed in four regions of Ukraine. The organizers transported men to Moldova and Hungary for tens of thousands of dollars, and also issued fictitious disability documents.
A Politico columnist predicts that the Russian-Ukrainian war will end next year on terms extremely unfavorable to Ukraine. This is due to the EU's inability to agree on the use of frozen Russian assets and insufficient funding.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni put more than 270 state gifts up for auction, including python skin shoes and an iPad from Zelenskyy. The total value of the lots is about 800,000 euros, and the sale is due to a law prohibiting keeping gifts worth more than 300 euros.
On the eve of the holidays, there is a significant increase in passenger and transport traffic at the border with Ukraine. In one day, 15,000 more people entered Ukraine than left.
President Zelenskyy stated that Viktor Orban is blocking Ukraine's EU accession due to an election campaign, realizing that membership is a guarantee of security. Kyiv and EU leaders consider membership in the bloc a strong security factor.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused EU officials of wanting to harm Russia, comparing it to Hitler's Germany's invasion of the USSR. He stated that Europeans want to use the war in Ukraine to weaken Russia, seeing it as a threat.
Hungarian state energy company MVM Group and Romanian E. ON Group have mutually agreed to terminate the agreement for the acquisition of a 68% stake in E.ON Energie Romania and a 98% stake in E.ON Asist. The Romanian government did not support the deal due to concerns about MVM's ties with Russia.
EU taxpayers will pay €3 billion annually in interest on a loan to finance Ukraine's defense. The new plan will provide Ukraine with €45 billion next year, with the remaining funds to be paid in 2027.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha responded to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who could not name the culprit of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Sybiha compared Hungary's position to the situation in 1939, when the country was an ally of Nazi Germany.
Czech Defense Minister Jaromír Zuna confirmed the continuation of the ammunition initiative for Ukraine until 2026. Funding has been secured for the purchase of 760,000 shells, and support for Ukraine is "a matter of course."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that he managed to prevent "a declaration of war on Russia" by allocating a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine. In response, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski ironically "awarded" Orban the Order of Lenin.
The head of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, stated that frozen Russian assets will be used to repay loans that the EU provides to Ukraine. He rejected US proposals for asset sharing, emphasizing that Russia must pay for its actions.
Hungarian Prime Minister and Putin's "friend" Orban in Brussels criticized the Western approach to supporting Kyiv, calling the hope for future reparations from Russia an illusion. He also stated that Hungary managed to avoid the risk of using frozen Russian assets.
EU leaders agreed on a plan to finance Ukraine through joint borrowing after 16 hours of negotiations. Politico named Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever as the main "winners" of the summit.
The European Council decided to allocate 90 billion euros in funding to Ukraine for 2026-2027. The funds will be based on EU borrowings without the use of Russian assets and without the involvement of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.
European Union leaders have not reached an agreement on using frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine. Discussions on providing a loan will continue on December 19 at the summit in Brussels.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that Hungary, the US, Slovakia, and possibly a few other allies oppose Ukraine's membership in the Alliance. He noted that at the 2024 Washington Summit, allies agreed on Ukraine's irreversible path to NATO, but in practice, some members are against it.
At Thursday's EU summit, leaders will try to persuade Belgium to agree to the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine. This is the EU's last chance to greenlight a proposal to raise 210 billion euros from Russian assets.
EU diplomats are trying to find a compromise on financial aid to Ukraine ahead of the bloc's leaders' summit. Options being considered include a loan based on frozen Russian assets or joint EU debt.
Orban announced that Moscow was preparing a "harsh response" to the EU's decision on the use of frozen Russian assets. He stated that he had personal communication with Vladimir Putin.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the possibility of financial support for Ukraine through the issuance of joint EU debt, as an alternative to using frozen Russian sovereign assets. This comes ahead of a meeting of EU leaders where ways to finance Ukraine will be discussed amid its expected deficit of 135 billion euros by 2027.
The European Commission is trying to persuade Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever to support a proposed loan to Ukraine, financed by immobilized Russian assets. De Wever expresses concerns about the risks to the Belgian economy if Russia tries to reclaim the assets.
The EU leaders' summit on Thursday will test whether the bloc can hold together or whether US President Donald Trump can divide it. Officials of the Trump administration have been pushing European governments to reject a plan to use 210 billion euros of Russian assets to finance Ukraine.
Hungary has blocked the European Union's enlargement statement, preventing Ukraine from starting EU accession negotiations. 26 EU member states support Ukraine, but Hungary did not support a positive assessment of its efforts.
Belgium opposed the European Commission's proposals to unblock a €210 billion loan for Ukraine, financed by frozen Russian assets. This dashes the EU's hopes for a deal before the leaders' summit, as Belgium considers the guarantees provided insufficient.
