Outside of peace talks, the European Commission has said it wants Ukraine to provide a timetable for repairs to a pipeline that carries Russian oil to Europe after it was damaged earlier this year, Sky News reports.
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According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, a Russian attack on a section of the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine has stopped the flow of oil to Hungary and Slovakia since January 27.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accused Ukraine of delaying the restart of the pipeline in order to pressure Hungary to drop its opposition to Ukraine's EU membership bid.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that, in his opinion, Ukraine did not resume oil transit for political reasons.
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Both countries have turned to Croatia for help in delivering Russian oil amid fears of an immediate fuel crisis. But Croatian Economy Minister Ante Šušnjar said that would not happen.
“A barrel bought in Russia may seem cheaper to some countries, but it helps finance the war and attacks on the Ukrainian people,” Shushnyar wrote in a post on X. “There is no technical justification left for any EU country to remain tied to Russian crude oil.”
He added that Croatia would not jeopardize fuel supplies to Central Europe and was ready to assist within the framework of EU law and OFAC regulations.
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Later it became known that Hungary can import Russian oil via the sea route to Croatia with further supply by pipeline. This was stated at a briefing on February 17 by the spokeswomen of the European Commission Anna-Kaissa Itkonen and Siobhan McGarry. This is a temporary exceptional decision by the EU, as the Druzhba oil pipeline has failed for reasons beyond the control of landlocked Hungary.
Meanwhile, as “FACTY” previously wrote, Orban is again opposing financial assistance to Kyiv.