The Druzhba pipeline is poised to bring Russian oil back to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine, possibly finishing a major political strife which saw Budapest and Bratislava at odds with Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Tuesday.
The Soviet-era pipeline that Ukrainians said was knocked out of commission by Russian bombs in late January has been repaired and “can resume operation,” Zelenskyy said. “Although no one can currently guarantee that Russia will not repeat attacks on the pipeline infrastructure, our specialists have ensured the basic conditions for restoring the operation of the pipeline system and equipment,” he wrote.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainians “link this with the unblocking of the European support package for Ukraine” – a 90 billion euro loan that it was frozen by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the run-up to this month’s general election that ultimately saw him suffer a crushing defeat.
The President of the European Council, António Costa, immediately thanked Zelenskyy for “delivery, as agreed”.
Drone attacks
However, the announcement came amid reports that Ukrainian security services had launched a drone strike on the Druzhba pipeline – which transports Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary through Ukraine – in Russia’s Samara region.
A Ukrainian security official said Reuters that the attacks, which hit a pumping station in the village of Prosvet, had caused a fire and damaged five tanks of 20,000 cubic meters each of crude oil. The attack was also reported by locals Ukrainian media.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, said Orban’s loss to rival Péter Magyar in the last Hungarian election had given “new momentum” to EU policy on Ukraine. It also said it expected a “positive decision” on the loan “within the next 24 hours”.
Asked whether damage to the pipeline could jeopardize the release of the loan, Kallas said: “I may sound like an oil expert, but I’m definitely not going to give you an answer if oil is going to flow now, because I’m not an expert.”
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár – whose country has also threatened to freeze the loan and the 20th package of sanctions over the pipeline dispute – said after Tuesday’s meeting that he could not confirm that oil shipments through Druzhba had resumed.
“At the moment, I can say that we do not have such information,” said Blanár. A Hungarian government spokesman said they also could not confirm that oil shipments had resumed.
A spokesman for the European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Request for sanctions
Ukraine’s wartime leader also reiterated that Kiev’s allies should continue to pressure Russia with “systematic sanctions” and that Europeans should seek alternatives to Russian energy imports.
Hungary and Slovakia are the last two EU countries to import Russian oil. The EU has already passed legislation to end all Russian gas imports by autumn next year – which both countries are defiant in EU courts.
But there are signs that Budapest and Bratislava, whose energy policy and pro-Russian stance have so far been broadly aligned, may be leaving, with Hungary’s prime minister-elect Péter Magyar publicly at odds with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Tuesday over an ethnic row.
In a phone call with Fico, Magyar connected any political cooperation with Bratislava until the annulment of a law that allows prison terms of up to six months for anyone critical of a post-World War II settlement that attributed collective guilt to the Germans and their collaborators, and remains a bone of contention for Slovakia’s sizable ethnic Hungarian minority.
(hours, jp)
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include comments from the European Commission and further context.
