THE Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today that he had “done everything” for his country before agreeing to a new €50 billion European aid package for Ukraine, adding that he had averted the risk of Budapest losing European funds.

The 27 EU leaders unanimously agreed on Thursday to provide an additional 50 billion euros in aid over the next four years to Ukraine.

The agreement was announced very quickly, despite the fact that for weeks Hungary – a country that refuses to send weapons to Ukraine after the outbreak of war with Russia — expressed her opposition to providing additional resources to Kiev, an issue she had vetoed in December.

In his regular interview on the state radio station today, Mr Orban stated that yesterday’s agreement was good.

“I did everything,” he emphasized. “If this agreement had not been reached and Hungary still used its veto right, then the 26 member countries would have agreed to send the money to Ukraine (…) and they would have taken resources intended for Hungary and sent them to Ukraine as well. Why would that be good?’he wondered.

“We are not sending weapons (to Ukraine), we get our money from Brussels and will contribute to the political funding of Ukraine“, explained the Hungarian Prime Minister.

After freeing up some of the EU funds meant for Hungary in December, the European Commission is still withholding some 20 billion euros from Budapest because of concerns about the rule of law in Hungary.

THE Orban in his interview today he reiterated that peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia should begin as the second anniversary of the start of the war approaches and “time is on the Russian side”.