Attack on Russian station disrupts Druzhba oil supplies to Slovakia and Hungary

Russian oil is no longer flowing to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced this today, as did Slovak oil transporter Transpetrol. The Ukrainian military later confirmed that this was the result of its attack on a transformer station on the pipeline.

"The attack caused a fire at the facility. Pumping through the main Druzhba pipeline was completely halted," the Ukrainian General Staff said, according to Reuters, adding that the station was part of Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó said he had spoken with Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin, who told him that experts were working to restore the transformer station. However, it is unclear when supplies will resume, the Russian minister told Szijjártó, according to the Hungarian foreign minister.

"You can now send complaints—threats—to your friends in Moscow," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote to Szijjártó on X.

"It is Russia, not Ukraine, that started this war and refuses to end it. Hungary has been told for years that Moscow is an unreliable partner. Despite this, Hungary has made every effort to preserve its dependence on Russia," the minister said.

Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Saková said she expected oil supplies to resume in the coming days. "I would like to assure citizens that the security of supplies to the region is not threatened by this, supplies to Slovakia have been delivered according to schedule, and we expect them to resume in the coming days once the fault has been repaired," Saková said. She added that Slovakia was also prepared for any potentially longer-term disruptions to oil supplies.

Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia's military invasion for more than three years. The government in Budapest says it has maintained pragmatic relations with Moscow since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022. This creates tensions in the European Union, where many countries take a much tougher stance towards Russia and describe Viktor Orbán's government as pro-Russian.

Today's suspension of oil supplies to Hungary follows a temporary halt last week, Reuters reports. On 13 August, the Ukrainian military announced that its drones had struck an oil pumping station in Bryansk, western Russia.

Last summer, Ukraine halted the transit of oil from Russian company Lukoil to Hungary and Slovakia. The Ukrainians added the company to their sanctions list, which they then cited as the reason they could not allow the transit. Hungary called Ukraine's move blackmail at the time.

Last year, Russian oil transit through Ukraine to Europe via the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline fell by 16 percent to around 11.36 million tonnes. This was its lowest level since at least 2014 and probably its lowest since 1991, when Ukraine gained independence. Oil deliveries to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline fell by more than a third.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU banned imports of Russian oil. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, however, were granted an exemption for supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, giving these landlocked countries time to secure alternative sources of oil imports. The Czech Republic currently receives oil from two main sources: the Druzhba pipeline and the German IKL pipeline, which connects to the Italian TAL pipeline. The state plans to increase supplies via the TAL pipeline in the future.