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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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President Donald Trump has expressed his anger at recent Ukrainian attacks that disabled the Russian oil pipeline Druzhba, which supplies Hungary and Slovakia, both NATO allies.
Newsweek reached out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office and the White House for comment.
The Russia-Ukraine war is in a pivotal moment. Ukraine and its European allies are working to keep Trump on side, hoping to influence him into a tougher position against Russia. The Russians have also made overtures to Trump, seeking closer—and lucrative—U.S. ties.
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But ongoing attacks by both sides have frustrated the self-styled peacemaker Trump as he seeks to bring about an end to a war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed parts of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Trump: 'I Do Not Like Hearing This'
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban shared a handwritten note from his political ally, Trump, in a private Facebook group for his supporters, Hungary's Magyar Nemzet newspaper reported.
Hungary has sought to stay out of the Russia-Ukraine war and maintain relations with the Russian government, making it an outlier among its allies and partners in the European Union and NATO. It opposes Ukraine's ambition to join the EU.
The country has accused Brussels and Kyiv of seeking to drag it into the war.
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Orban had written to Trump to complain about the attacks on Druzhba and the impact on Hungarian energy. Ukraine said the pipeline also supplies the invading Russian armed forces, which is why it was targeted.
"Viktor—I do not like hearing this," Trump, who is trying to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, wrote in the note. "I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia. You are my great friend."
The note was also shared on X by Andras Laszlo, a Hungarian member of the European Parliament from Orban's Fidesz party.
In the statement to which Trump had replied, Orban noted that Ukrainian strikes on Druzhba had happened days before the "historic meeting" in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has since struck the pipeline again.
"This pipeline supplies Hungary and Slovakia, two countries that have no other means of importing crude oil," Orban had said.
"Hungary supports Ukraine with electricity and petrol, in return they bomb [a] pipeline that [supplies] us. Very unfriendly move! We wish President Trump every success in his pursuit for peace."
Ukraine Tells Hungary: Complain to Russia Instead
Responding to a previous Hungarian government complaint about Ukraine's attacks on Druzhba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X that "it is Russia, not Ukraine, who began this war and refuses to end it."
"Hungary has been told for years that Moscow is an unreliable partner," Sybiha said.
"Despite this, Hungary has made every effort to maintain its reliance on Russia. Even after the full-scale war began. You can now send your complaints—and threats—to your friends in Moscow."
Trump is pushing for Zelensky and Putin to meet in person to settle on a peace deal, but the two sides remain far apart on the key issues of Ukraine's future security and the division of territory.
Update 8/22/25, 9:05 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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