Hungary and Slovakia in spat with Ukraine over bombed Druzhba oil pipeline

In a comment on Sunday, Zelenskyy indicated that the future of the pipeline could depend on Hungary’s behaviour. Budapest said Kyiv harms its sovereignty, and Slovakia warned Ukraine might be left without fuel, if the attacks continue.

Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline have blocked oil imports into Hungary and Slovakia for days and provoked an ongoing war of words between Kyiv, Budapest, and Bratislava.

Ukraine attacked oil facilities on Russian territory with drones and rockets. The pipeline delivers Russian oil through Ukraine and Belarus to Central Europe, where Hungary and Slovakia still import large amounts.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s president suggested that the attacks on the pipeline might be connected to Hungary’s veto on Ukraine’s EU accession.

“We always supported the friendship between Ukraine and Hungary. And now the existence of the friendship depends on what Hungary’s position is,” Zelenskyy said when asked whether the attacks on the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline exert leverage on Viktor Orbán to lift his veto on Ukraine’s accession negotiations getting underway.

Read more: Euronews