Ukrainian news outlet RBC-Ukraine writes that with devastating flooding affecting most of Central Europe, Ukraine has offered help to several countries, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha. Among the countries Ukraine claims it will aid is Hungary, which Ukraine has threatened to virtually bankrupt through energy supply cuts.
“Ukraine stands in solidarity with its neighbors suffering from devastating floods,” said Sibiha.
The foreign minister said that with the backing of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and with the coordination of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Smykhal, the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs offered assistance to several countries, including Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
Hungarian media is skeptical of the offer, with Mandiner writing: “(Ukraine) is in ruins. The Russians brought the country to the brink of collapse, but there is time and money for marketing.”
Notably, Ukraine is engaged in a brutal war on the eastern front and is suffering serious power outages and material shortages of its own. Hungary has been an active supporter of Ukraine’s efforts to restore electricity, and at times, has been Ukraine’s top electricity supplier among all foreign countries.
Over the summer, Ukraine blocked the “Friendship” oil pipeline from Russia, which delivered oil to Slovakia, Hungary, and Czechia, thereby threatening to plunge these countries into an energy crisis that would cost families and the government billions in financial losses, and potentially send them into recession.
At the time, Tamás Menczer, the Hungarian communications director of Fidesz-KDNP, said in a video post published on social media that “they are punishing us for our support for peace, and now they are attacking our energy security. And it is quite possible that this was not initiated by Ukraine alone, but was helped by the people of Brussels, or even by the pro-war American Democrats. They want to destroy those who are pro-peace by all means. This is unfair, unacceptable, and illegal. In any case, we will stand by our pro-peace position and defend ourselves against attacks in every possible way, with every possible means,”
According to Ukraine’s foreign minister, his country will send units of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service to “avert the disaster.” Meanwhile, Ukraine is suffering a severe manpower shortage at the front.
It is unclear how many units Ukraine would send and whether they would be deployed to all the countries listed by the Ukrainian foreign ministry.
Flooding has left much of Central Europe facing a major crisis, with multiple fatalities reported in Poland, Czechia, and Romania. Many towns have been left submerged underwater, with experts estimating cleanup operations could run into the billions. Many Central European nations have declared a state of emergency in response.
