EU sanctions require the unanimous support of all 27 member states to be imposed. Other measures helping Kyiv could also be slowed down by an obstructive Vienna.
The expectation is the FPO will form a new government with the centre-Right OVP. It won’t be the first time the conservative establishment has joined forces with the more extreme FPO, which was founded by former Nazis in the 1950s, but the first time that the FPO is the senior partner.
Some predict that the coalition negotiations will sideline Mr Kickl and defang his more extreme policies. But the FPO will drag the government farther to the Right on issues such as immigration and potentially Ukraine.
The success of the hard and far-Right in recent elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands has led directly to crackdowns in migration in those countries.
Hard-Right in European mainstream
The hard-Right is firmly in the European mainstream. Now the far-Right is on the march.
The difference between Mr Kickl and his friends Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders is that the French and Dutch politicians have tried to disown their former admiration for Putin.
The FPO, like the far-Right AFD in Germany, never has.
Ms Le Pen has worked hard to detoxify her party, but the FPO makes no such compromises. It calls for Fortress Austria against migrants, a war on “political Islam”, a ban on trans-friendly language and a refund on fines for breaking Covid regulations.
Its success now risks emboldening other pro-Putin parties in Europe to break cover, preach their distrust of Nato and call for appeasement of Russia.
Austria on its own is not influential enough to move the dial on EU support for Ukraine. However, a chancellor in an FPO-led government will be welcomed at the European Council with open arms by Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary.
Mr Orban has long railed against EU sanctions, met with Putin since the invasion and been a thorn in Mr Zelensky’s side.
He was thrilled with the FPO victory, which bolsters the ranks of an anti-Ukraine bloc, which includes the pro-Putin Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia.
Andrej Babis, the former Czech prime minister and another Putin apologist, also looks like he could return to power next year after his party won the most seats in senate elections this week.
All three preach appeasement, refuse to send weapons to Ukraine, oppose sanctions and want immediate peace talks that will favour Russia.
Hungary was long Europe’s soft underbelly, but it is now growing over central and Eastern states as the war drags on and the cost of living crisis bites.