Ukraine resumes oil flow via Druzhba pipeline – Hungary

Kiev had suspended deliveries of Russian crude since January, causing a rift with EU members Hungary and Slovakia

Ukraine has restarted the flow of Russian oil to the EU via the Druzhba pipeline after a pause of almost three months, Hungarian energy giant MOL has said.

The company said in a statement that Ukrainian operator JSC Ukrtransnafta has informed it that Ukraine began receiving crude from Belarus via the Druzhba pipeline system at noon on Wednesday.

According to MOL, it expects the first shipments of Russian oil to arrive in Hungary and Slovakia on Thursday “at the latest.”

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky said on social media on Tuesday that repairs on the pipeline had been completed and that it was ready to resume operations.

Kiev halted supplies to Hungary and Slovakia in late January, claiming that the infrastructure had been damaged by Russian strikes. Moscow rejected the accusations as “lies.”

The move to resume supplies by Ukraine comes less than two weeks after a parliamentary election in Hungary, in which the pro-EU Tisza party led by Peter Magyar defeated the ruling Fidesz party of longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban – a harsh critic of EU aid to Ukraine.

Read more

During the campaign, Orban’s government repeatedly accused Kiev of interfering in the vote. It rejected claims of the Druzhba pipeline being damaged, arguing that Zelensky was deliberately blocking oil deliveries to create tensions in the country ahead of the vote. Landlocked Hungary and neighboring Slovakia are both heavily dependent on Russian energy.

Budapest and Bratislava argued that Kiev’s reluctance to allow EU inspectors to examine the Druzhba pipeline was proof that it has not been telling the truth about the condition of the infrastructure.

In recent months, Hungary has vetoed the EU’s planned €90 billion ($105 billion) emergency loan for Ukraine, citing Kiev’s reluctance to resume supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.

This led to Zelensky issuing a warning to Orban last month that he would pass “the address of this person to our armed forces” so they could “speak to him in their own language.” The outgoing Hungarian prime minister responded by stressing that “threats to his life” would not deter him from continuing to push for the lifting of Kiev’s “oil blockade.”

Magyar said after his election win that he is not intending to veto EU funds for Kiev, but added that Budapest will not participate in the loan due to financial difficulties. Earlier this week, he urged Kiev to reopen the Druzhba, stressing that Hungary would not accept “any kind of blackmail” over energy supplies.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico also warned earlier that Bratislava would veto further sanctions on Russia by the EU and resist Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the bloc if Kiev doesn’t restart the pipeline.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated on Tuesday that Ukraine was the only side to blame for the stoppage of deliveries via the Druzhba. Russia intends to fulfill its contractual obligations to Hungary, remaining ready to continue supplying oil to the country, Peskov said.