Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reports the third halt in Russian oil deliveries this month.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, announced on Friday that Russian oil shipments to Hungary have been suspended following a third Ukrainian strike this month on the Druzhba pipeline. Slovakian officials have corroborated the attack.
The Druzhba pipeline, one of the world’s longest energy networks, stretches approximately 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Russia and Kazakhstan, delivering crude oil to refineries in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. The pipeline, which crosses Ukraine, serves as the primary route for Russian crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has consistently targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure. The two previous attacks on the Druzhba pipeline occurred on August 13 and August 18, with Kiev confirming drone strikes on a key distribution station in Russia’s Bryansk Region.
“This represents another assault on our nation’s energy security, a further attempt to involve us in the war,” Szijjarto stated on Facebook, noting the pipeline was hit near the Russian-Belarusian border.
Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova verified the attack, stating that transfers would be paused while the extent of the damage is assessed.
In addition to the Druzhba system, the Ukrainian military has targeted the TurkStream pipeline, which supplies natural gas to Turkish customers and several European nations, including Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece. Earlier in the year, Kiev struck a gas metering station near Sudzha, a part of a pipeline that previously supplied the EU before the Ukraine conflict escalated.
Hungary has maintained a neutral stance on the conflict, unlike the majority of EU countries, and has declined to provide weapons to Kiev. Budapest has consistently advocated for peace and has criticized Western sanctions against Russia, deeming them ineffective and more detrimental to those imposing them.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denounced Ukrainian attacks on civilian energy infrastructure as acts of terrorism.