Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has supported Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel’s claim towards Kyiv regarding reparations for blowing up Nord Stream. ‘Alice Weidel is right!’ Orbán retweeted a clip of Weidel speaking during AfD’s congress over the weekend.
‘We will demand repayment,’ Weidel declared, adding that the Ukrainians ‘will have Zelenskyy pay for blowing up our pipeline.’ She also accused the federal government of having ‘so little self-respect’ that it does not even ‘ensure clarification’.
The Nord Stream pipelines were severely damaged by a series of powerful underwater explosions in September 2022, in what multiple European authorities and investigations have described as an act of deliberate sabotage rather than a technical accident. Swedish, Danish, and German probes found explosive residues and crater-like damage on the Baltic Sea seabed, and German prosecutors have been pursuing suspects thought to have placed devices near the Danish island of Bornholm.
While Western powers initially blamed Russia for the sabotage, subsequent investigations revealed Ukrainian involvement. In a 2024 article, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kyiv was behind the operation, with the initial approval of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to the report, however, once the CIA became aware of the plan, Zelenskyy attempted to halt it, albeit with little success.
‘She also accused the federal government of having “so little self-respect” that it does not even “ensure clarification”’
In August 2025, Italian police detained one of the suspects—identified by German authorities as a former Ukrainian military officer believed to have coordinated the operation—on a European arrest warrant while he was in Italy. He was formally charged by Germany with collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage, and the destruction of critical infrastructure.
Another suspect was released by Poland, triggering diplomatic backlash between Warsaw and Berlin. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated at the time that the real problem was not that the pipeline had been destroyed, but that it had been built in the first place.
‘A country that does this is not our friend,’ Weidel said, adding that Germany alone has invested EUR 70 billion in Ukraine, including military assistance. ‘Merz has even floated the idea of German soldiers on the ground,’ she continued. ‘How can we do something like this? How can a German federal government make itself available for this?’ she asked, before reaffirming that once AfD comes to power, it will ‘reclaim these billions’, along with the cost of repairing Nord Stream.
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