Supplies of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline have been suspended since January 27. Kyiv claims that a Russian drone hit part of an oil pipeline in western Ukraine at the time, and the Ukrainians are trying to fix everything. Slovakia and Hungary, on the other hand, state that Ukraine is responsible for the long-term outage and that there are no technical obstacles that could prevent the transit of oil.
“The pipeline was destroyed by Russia, we are not behind its destruction,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a joint press conference with EU officials on Tuesday. As he added, it is not the first or the last similar attack, and there is a lot of evidence and satellite images.
This week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the stoppage of the transit of Russian oil through the country defending against Russian aggression an unprovoked act of hostility that threatens Hungary’s energy security. In Monday’s letter to the President of the European Council, António Costa, he wrote that this is what forced him to reconsider his previous position on the EU loan for Ukraine. Costa replied that the decision of the European Council must be respected, and called on him to stop blocking the loan for Ukraine.
“When the European Council approves a decision, no one can block it. Only the European Council can change the European Council’s decision,” said Costa, who also took part in commemorative ceremonies in Kyiv on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “That’s why I wrote to Prime Minister Orbán that Hungary is violating the principle of loyal cooperation and urged him not to block the loan,” he added. The principle of loyal cooperation is referred to in Article 4, paragraph 3 of the Treaty on the EU, while the violation of this principle may lead to proceedings for breach of duty towards the member state.
