The European Union failed to pass new sanctions on Russia today, Monday, February 23, 2026, after surprise objections from Hungary.
Today’s meeting sought to make Russia pay a greater economic price for the all-out war it launched against its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022, and which shows no sign of ending.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief, said, “This is a setback and a message we did not want to send today.”
Foreign Ministers had scrambled to finalize the sanctions along with a massive new loan for Kyiv ahead of the fourth anniversary of a war that has left an estimated 1.8 million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers dead, wounded or missing.
Hungary, seen as the EU’s most pro-Russian member, threatened over the weekend to hold up both the sanctions and the 90 billion euro ($106 billion) loan meant to help Ukraine meet its military and economic needs for the next two years
Many EU leaders had hoped to move forward on the 20th package of sanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet and energy revenues before Tuesday’s anniversary of the war.
However, Hungary said that it would stand firm until Russian oil deliveries to Hungary resume. It had previously agreed to the loan to Ukraine.
Kallas said that reneging on that goes against EU treaties. Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since Jan. 27 after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán doubled down on an unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine is deliberately holding back shipments of Russian oil, and accused Kyiv of seeking to topple his government.
He referred to the oil supply disruptions as a “Ukrainian oil blockade” led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told journalists ahead of the meeting, “No one has the right to put our energy security at risk.”
Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its full-scale war in Ukraine. Yet Hungary and Slovakia, both EU and NATO members, have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas, and received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil.
European Leaders Asserts Support For Ukraine
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz marked what he called “four monstrous years of war” at a pro-Ukrainian event in Berlin.
“I appeal again to our European partners: Do not let up in your support, in our common support, for Ukraine. We are standing at a crossroads that could decide on the well-being of our whole continent.”
Friedrich Merz
In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that “our determination to continue supporting Ukraine is unwavering.”
He met with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, another staunch supporter of Kyiv who urged European allies to raise the costs on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some European leaders stressed that the most effective way to get Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine is to raise the cost to Moscow of continuing the war.
“This war will only end when Russia no longer sees any sense in continuing it, when Russia can no longer expect more territorial gains, when Russia’s costs for this madness have simply become too high. We must dry up Moscow’s war financing.”
Friedrich Merz
Finland’s leader argued that Russia’s war was a “strategic failure” as he made the case for ratcheting up pressure on Putin
Stubb said, speaking in French, “It is also a military failure — he is now losing many soldiers — and, on top of that, it is an economic failure.” He added, “Putin is not winning this war, but he cannot make peace.”
The EU already has sent Ukraine 194.9 billion euros ($229.8 billion) in financial assistance while squeezing Russia’s key energy exports.
