Hungary asks for mission to Ukraine over Druzhba oil pipeline, Orbán writes to Costa

Brussels, 26 February (Czech News Agency correspondent) - Hungary supports sending an expert mission to Ukraine, with representatives of Budapest and Bratislava taking part, to assess the condition of the Druzhba oil pipeline. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said so in a new letter to European Council President António Costa. Hungary will accept the mission’s findings, he said. Budapest is demanding that Ukraine resume Russian oil transit to Hungary and is blocking approval of a €90 billion EU loan for Kyiv as a result.

"It is in Hungary’s interest to resume oil imports as soon as possible. Hungary is ready to engage constructively in all efforts that will contribute to this goal," says the letter, dated today, a copy of which is in the possession of the Czech News Agency.

"I am fully aware of the political difficulties caused by the delay in implementing the European Council’s decision on financial support for Ukraine. My initiative also aims to facilitate a timely resolution of this issue," Orbán added.

Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline have been interrupted since 27 January. Kyiv says a Russian drone struck part of the pipeline in western Ukraine that day and that Ukraine is doing everything it can to repair it. Slovakia and Hungary, by contrast, say Ukraine is responsible for the prolonged outage and that there are no technical obstacles that could prevent the transit of oil.

"The pipeline was destroyed by Russia; we are not responsible for its destruction," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday this week at a joint press conference with EU officials who visited Kyiv on the fourth anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion.

He added that this was neither the first nor the last such attack, and that there was a wealth of evidence and satellite images.

Earlier this week, Orbán called the halt to Russian oil transit through a country defending itself against Russian aggression an unprovoked act of hostility that threatens Hungary’s energy security. In a letter to Costa on Monday, he wrote that this had forced him to reconsider his previous position on the EU loan to Ukraine. The Hungarian leader had backed the loan at the EU summit in December. Costa replied that the European Council’s decision must be respected and urged him to stop blocking the loan for Ukraine.