Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) has accused his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, of betraying fellow EU leaders.

"He’s using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaign, and it's not good," the Finnish premier said as he arrived at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, according to Reuters. "We had an agreement, and I think he betrayed us," he added.

Orpo was one of many EU leaders who urged Orbán to lift his blockade on a vital 90-billion-euro EU loan to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion, now in its fifth year. Orbán faces a challenging election next month.

"This is about the security of Europe as a whole"

"Ukraine needs continuous additional support and swift decisions from the EU. This is about the security of Europe as a whole," Orpo said in a government statement ahead of the meeting.

EU leaders agreed to the loan in December but Orbán blocked ​its implementation last month. That has infuriated other EU leaders, who warn that Kyiv ​could run short of money in weeks if it does not receive new funding and that his ⁠U-turn undermines the credibility of the European Council.

The European Parliament has accused the Hungarian leader of creating an "electoral autocracy".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to discuss the situation with EU leaders at the conference.

The pipeline carried Russian oil through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia but was damaged by a Russian attack in January. Ukraine agreed this week to fix the pipeline with EU technical help and funding, but has said that ​repairs will take some time.