Europe should stop sending money to Ukraine to boost EU economy, says Viktor Orbán - Europe live

Hungary’s prime minister is at a Belgium summit with other EU leaders this morningHungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who is at the Belgium summit with other EU leaders this morning, said Europe should stop sending money to Ukraine it is serious about wanting to boosting its economy.Orbán, widely viewed as Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, made the remarks to reporters as he headed into the informal talks (read more about that in an earlier post here).We reported earlier about the attacks in the southern city of Odesa where nearly 300,000 people have been left without water, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba. He added that about 200 buildings also had no heating.In the capital city Kyiv, about 3,500 buildings were without heating this morning after the attacks knocked out power supplies to 2,600 high-rise buildings, on top of the 1,100 already affected by previous strikes, the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said.In Dnipro in Ukraine’s south-east, four people were injured including a baby and four-year-old child, the regional governor, Oleksandr Ganzha, said.The Ukrainian energy firm DTEK said one of its thermal power plants was targeted and “suffered extensive damage”, but did not disclose the location. “This is already the eleventh large-scale attack on the company’s thermal power plants since October 2025,” DTEK said in a statement.Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, condemned the attacks, saying they undermine diplomatic efforts led by the US to end the war. “Russia must be forced to take diplomacy seriously and de-escalate,” he said in a social media post. “This can only be achieved through unity, strength, and increased pressure on Moscow.” Continue reading...