Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Friday agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting to resolve the dispute over the blocked pipeline pipeline taking Russian oil to Eastern Europe, officials said.
Ukraine suspended the pipeline in January following Russian air strikes. However, Slovakia and Hungary have accused Ukraine of using the pipeline for political purposes and deliberately prolonging the outage. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban even blocked an EU emergency loan to Ukraine as the dispute escalates.
Druzhba pipeline can transport over 2 million barrels per day, but it has been operating well below that level after many European nations reduced their reliance on Russian fossil fuels following Russian invasion of Ukraine. Slovakia and Ukraine have kept close ties with the Kremlin since Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Both countries have threated Ukraine over suspension of deliveries via Druzhba pipeline.
After Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, several European countries reduced or halted their purchases of Russian oil, significantly lowering volumes transported via Druzhba. Despite this, parts of the southern branch have continued operating to supply certain Central European countries that remain connected to the network. The pipeline remains an important piece of Europe’s energy infrastructure, symbolizing both decades of cooperation and the geopolitical strains shaping the region’s energy landscape.
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