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

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.

As the word friendship is the equivalent of the name of the pipeline, Hungary translated the message as a direct threat to its Russian oil imports. Hungary's Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó reacted in a post on his X-account. He said his government firmly rejected what he described as the Ukrainian President's intimidation and considered those bombings on the Russian pipelines as an attack on Hungary's sovereignty.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha, rejected Szijjártó's message in his tweet.

"I will reply in a Hungarian manner. You don’t need to tell the Ukrainian President what to do or say, and when. He is the President of Ukraine, not Hungary. Hungary’s energy security is in your own hands. Diversify and become independent from Russia, like the rest of Europe."

Tamás Deutsch, the head of delegation of Hungary's ruling Fidesz party in the European Parliament, said the pipeline bombings represent a military attack against an EU member state, and that the EU should not conduct membership talks with Ukraine as a result.

Slovakia also enters the ring

On Sunday evening, Slovakia's Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár said in an interview that keeping Russian oil imports is in the national interest of his country, adding that Ukraine's attacks on Druzhba could also cut fuel supplies to Kyiv.

The minister highlighted that 10% of Ukraine's diesel supply arrives through Slovakia, mostly from Russian oil refined in Slovakia. Hungary last week warned Ukraine that electricity supplies could easily be cut from Hungary. Ukraine imports 40% of its electricity from Hungary.

Hungary and Slovakia demanded that the EU take action against Ukraine on the issue ina joint letter published on Friday. In response, the European Commission said both countries have reserves for 90 days, so energy supply is not in danger.

The EU approved sanctions to cut pipeline oil imports from Russia in 2022, but both Hungary and Slovakia received derogations and continue to import large amounts. This year, the Commission proposed a full phase-out of all Russian fossil fuels by 2027 for all member states.