Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is threatening to block aid to Ukraine to assist Donald Trump in the US presidential race by scuttling the $50B loan proposed by Ukraine’s allies. This would allow Trump to tell voters that he “will not give Ukraine a cent if elected.” Hungary threatens to block a rule change regarding the extension of the period between reviews of sanctions that have immobilized Russian assets in Europe, which the US insists on before committing to its original pledge.
At the same time, the States have made it clear that they are considering the possibility of participating in the loan, albeit with a much smaller amount, even if the EU cannot guarantee continuation of the sanctions. In this scenario, Washington would contribute $5B, approximately equal to the amount of frozen Russian assets in the US, which would leave Europe to pay the lion’s share of the bill.
Also, Japan has recently signaled that it may withdraw from the loan if the US does not participate.
However, the German government is confident that Ukraine will receive the promised loan from its partners regardless of Hungary’s position.