The Druzhba (Friendship) oil pipeline has been out of service for thirty days; according to the Hungarian government, Ukraine is blocking it, and although Viktor Orbán says that the measures taken so far have been successful in "countering Ukrainian blackmail," it is time to move forward. The Hungarian Prime Minister stated in his Facebook post that further action is needed to break the oil blockade and ensure stable energy supplies for the country. For this reason,
“We will gradually halt gas shipments from Hungary to Ukraine and will store the gas that remains here domestically. Until Ukraine supplies oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary. Since Ukraine is also attacking the southern gas pipeline supplying Hungary, we must conserve our reserves.”
Viktor Orbán said he will present the above proposal at Thursday’s cabinet meeting.
A Russian attack struck one of the pumping stations of the Druzhba oil pipeline in Ukraine on January 27, which led to the suspension of oil shipments toward Hungary and Slovakia. Since then, the Hungarian government has been accusing the Ukrainian government of deliberately withholding the oil in order to interfere in the upcoming Hungarian elections. Meanwhile, Ukraine claims that the attack caused serious damage which will take a long time to repair, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously said, “I’ll be honest: I wouldn’t restore it. That’s my position, and I’ve already shared it with European leaders.”
The European Union has recently offered technical support and financial assistance to Ukraine for the restoration of the pipeline, which Ukraine accepted. Zelensky expects that oil shipments through the pipeline could resume by the end of April.
About a week ago, in a video address to the European Council of EU heads of state and government, Zelensky said that Ukraine would “do whatever is necessary” in regard to the Druzhba oil pipeline. Despite this, during the discussion about the Druzhba pipeline, Viktor Orbán – with the support of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico – still blocked Ukraine’s €90 billion EU loan, which had been unanimously agreed upon by member states in December. The Hungarian government plans to block the loan until shipments resume. According to António Costa, President of the European Council, several EU leaders voiced their strong condemnation of Orbán’s stance during last week's meeting.
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