"NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte refused to respond to a question on the recent row between Hungary and Ukraine, during a joint press conference with Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene in Brussels on Thursday. A journalist asked for the NATO chief's thoughts on Hungary blocking an EU loan for Ukraine and the latest sanctions package on Russia, enquiring whether he had or would attempt to mediate in the disagreement. “As you know, when there are discussions ongoing between allies, always my role has been not to comment but to try to be helpful wherever I can, and what that is I cannot tell you till it has been successful,” Rutte explained, while underlining that Hungary "has been a valued NATO ally for more than 25 years." The Lithuanian leader stressed that the issue is a ‘sensitive’ one for her country, which she said feels threatened by the ongoing conflict. She insisted that the EU should still ‘find a way’ to proceed with its planned support measures for Kiev, in spite of member state Hungary's firm opposition which she said is "not acceptable for us." It comes as tensions between Budapest and Kiev continue to escalate. Hungary and Slovakia have accused Ukraine of deliberately halting oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia for political reasons - while Kiev claims the pipeline was damaged by a Russian strike and would be repaired. On Wednesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that Budapest would use military force to protect critical energy infrastructure, with no crude oil delivered to the country since January 27. On the same day, an emergency Oil Coordination Group meeting was convened after Hungary and Slovakia halted diesel supplies to Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged Zelensky to 'accelerate' repairs to the pipeline.  Rutte also urged Europe to continue boosting its spending on defence, stressing that inadequate military funding explains why Washington is ‘irritated with Europe’. “I would really encourage Europeans to stop worrying about the United States and do as much as they can in implementing, like Lithuania is doing, and luckily, most allies are doing as we speak, implementing the commitments we made in the Hague, because that makes us strong and it anchors the United States even more into NATO,” he noted. He also underlined recent consolidation in NATO's approach to coherent defence of Arctic territories. "I can assure you it is bringing together what we have, therefore, as a one NATO approach, approaching now the Arctic as one, which was not possible, because in the past it was scattered among many NATO allies, but not a one NATO approach,” he explained. Over the last year, Europe has reportedly ramped up its defence spending to 21 percent of the global total, according to The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), with an increase from 2.48 trillion dollars in 2024 to 2.63 trillion dollars in 2025."