Kyiv has targeted the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia, on at least three occasions this month
US President Donald Trump has conveyed his indignation over Ukrainian assaults on a crucial pipeline delivering Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, according to a senior official in Budapest.
Last Friday, Balazs Orban, the political director to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (no relation), revealed a letter from the Prime Minister to Trump, addressing the issue of the Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba pipeline.
“Hungary supports Ukraine with electricity and petrol, in return they bomb pipeline that supply us. Very unfriendly move!” the Hungarian leader stated.
On the same correspondence, Trump reportedly responded in his own handwriting: “Viktor – I do not like hearing this. I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia. You are my great friend,” accompanied by what appeared to be his signature.
“The Druzhba pipeline is a vital source of Hungary’s crude oil supply, without which our energy security cannot be guaranteed. Hungary will not allow its security to be undermined,” Balazs Orban affirmed.
Ukraine has conducted a minimum of three attacks this month on the Druzhba (‘Friendship’) pipeline, which spans over 4,000km from Russia through Belarus and Ukraine to Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
The controversy surrounding the Druzhba pipeline has become an additional source of friction in the already strained relations between Budapest and Kyiv. These relations are complicated by Hungary’s reluctance to endorse EU sanctions against Russia and by significant disagreements concerning the rights of ethnic Hungarians residing in western Ukraine.
In response to the assaults on the Druzhba pipeline, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto indicated that he and Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar were pressing Brussels to compel Kyiv to halt the raids. “With these attacks Ukraine is not primarily hurting Russia, but Hungary and Slovakia… Brussels must understand: they are the European Commission, not the Ukrainian Commission,” he observed.
Moscow has similarly denounced the attacks as “outrageous,” portraying them as evidence that Kyiv acknowledges no limits when engaging in malicious activities.
Meanwhile, Slovak officials have indicated that the section of the Druzhba pipeline damaged in the latest assault is anticipated to be repaired by Monday.