Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that repair to the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Eastern European markets cannot be completed any time early despite relevant requests from the European Union.
Address a press conference on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said the pipeline linking the Black Sea port of Odesa with Druzhba oil pipeline had been destroyed in Russian strikes, adding that its repair will not be so fast. “This is not their first strike, and they continue to hit the energy sector,” Zelenskiy added.
Russia hit the Druzhba pipeline in Western Ukraine on January 27, disrupting shipments of Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary. Both Slovakia and Hungary have blamed Kyiv for the prolonged outage. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban went so far as saying on Wednesday that suspension of oil deliveries to his country was political and Ukraine was “preparing for further actions”. "The Ukrainian government is putting pressure on Hungary and Slovakia with an oil blockade," he said. Ukraine did not immediately respond to his comments.
During a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was urging Ukraine to accelerate repair efforts. “They advise us to repair it, but they know that there have already been attacks on Druzhba,” Zelenskiy said, adding that “Our people were injured so that it would work.”
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