Hungary and Slovakia Say Russian Oil Deliveries Halted After Ukrainian Pipeline Strike

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Russian crude oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia were suspended on Monday following what Budapest called the second Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline in two weeks.

“Ukraine has once again attacked the oil pipeline leading to Hungary, cutting off supplies. This latest strike against our energy security is outrageous and unacceptable,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote on X. 

He added that Russian officials had told him technicians were working to restore a transformation station critical to the Druzhba pipeline’s operations. Szijjarto cited Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin as saying it was not yet clear when shipments would resume.

“For 3.5 years, Brussels and Kyiv have tried to drag Hungary into the war in Ukraine. These repeated Ukrainian attacks on our energy supply serve that same purpose,” the foreign minister wrote. “This is not our war. We have nothing to do with it, and as long as we are in charge, Hungary will stay out of it.”

Slovakian pipeline operator Transpetrol later on Monday also said oil supplies to the country had been halted, adding that it did “not have any further information about the reason for the suspension.”

Last Thursday, Szijjarto claimed that Ukrainian drones had struck an oil pumping station on the Druzhba line, disrupting flows. Sorokin at the time had suggested deliveries could resume

The European Union banned most Russian oil imports after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but exempted the Druzhba pipeline, which currently supplies Hungary and Slovakia. The Czech Republic also used to rely on the Russian pipeline, but early this year it ended deliveries after connecting to a separate pipeline in Italy.

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