Russian oil deliveries to Hungary have been halted after Ukraine targeted the key Druzhba pipeline system, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.
Moscow informed Budapest that Russian experts are working to repair an “essential” transformer station damaged in the strike, Szijjarto said.
The Druzhba pipeline is one of the world’s longest crude oil networks, stretching some 4,000 kilometres from Russia and Kazakhstan to refineries in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
In a post on X, Szijjarto condemned the attack, describing it as “outrageous and unacceptable,” and warned that it was not yet clear when oil deliveries could resume.
The minister reiterated that the Ukraine conflict “is not our war” and emphasised that “as long as we [Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government] are in charge, Hungary will stay out of it.”
Unlike most EU member states, which have backed Kiev since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, Hungary has maintained a neutral stance, refusing to provide weapons to President Vladimir Zelensky’s government.
Also Read : Zelensky arrives in Washington, optimistic on Ukraine peace talks
Budapest has consistently called for peace talks and criticised Western sanctions on Russia as ineffective and damaging to those who imposed them.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian energy infrastructure during the war, including the Druzhba network and the TurkStream pipeline, which supplies natural gas to Turkey and several European countries, among them Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece.
The latest strike followed an earlier attack on the Druzhba system last Wednesday, when Kiev confirmed it had used drones against a key distribution station in Russia’s Bryansk Region.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned Ukrainian strikes on civilian energy infrastructure, calling them acts of terrorism.
Follow us
