Ukraine summons Hungarian Chargé d' Affaires at Kyiv embassy

Ukraine has summoned Antal Heizer, the chargé d'affaires at the Hungarian Embassy in Kyiv, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced on his Facebook page on Thursday afternoon. According to Szijjártó, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry “admitted that they are keeping the Friendship oil pipeline shut down for political reasons.”

"They admitted that they have political reasons for not restarting oil deliveries to Hungary. They admitted that there were no physical or technical reasons for not resuming deliveries [...] They also made it clear that they want weapons and money in exchange for restarting oil deliveries to Hungary," the foreign minister said, adding that Hungary would send neither money nor weapons to Ukraine. Szijjártó did not provide any further details about the circumstances and reasons for the summoning of the Hungarian chargé d'affaires.

"The Ukrainians cannot threaten us, they cannot play games with us, and they cannot put Hungary's energy supply at risk. They have no right to do so. Therefore, we continue to demand that they resume oil deliveries to Hungary [...] and stop interfering in the Hungarian election process," said the foreign minister. Szijjártó also mentioned in the short video that the Druzhba oil pipeline is “physically, technically, and technologically fully capable for resuming the transport of oil, as early as today.”

One of the facilities attached to the Friendship oil pipeline near Brody, Ukraine, was hit by a Russian bomb at the end of January. As a result, no oil has been delivered to Hungary and Slovakia via the pipeline since January 27. The Hungarian and Slovak governments claim that the pipeline system running from Russia through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia is already ready for transit, but the Ukrainian leadership is not allowing this to happen for political reasons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has noted that it was Russia that damaged the pipeline and that carrying out repairs puts Ukrainian workers at risk of further attacks, while there is an alternative route through Croatia.

Earlier in the week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote a letter to European Council President Antonio Costa, informing him that until deliveries towards Hungary are resumed, he cannot support any decision that would benefit Ukraine. This includes the loan to Ukraine agreed upon in December by the European Council. At the time, the Hungarian Prime Minister and his 26 fellow leaders unanimously agreed on a €90 billion loan for Ukraine, with the understanding that it would have no financial impact on three member states, including Hungary.

Meanwhile, the first shipments of non-Russian crude oil began to arrive at the Adria pipeline in Croatia, which, according to Szijjártó, means that Hungary's energy supply is secure.