Russian crude oil deliveries to Hungary have been suspended indefinitely following what Budapest called the second Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline in two weeks, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.
“Ukraine has once again attacked the oil pipeline leading to Hungary, cutting off supplies. This latest strike against our energy security is outrageous and unacceptable,” Szijjarto wrote on X.
He added that Russian officials had told him technicians were working to restore a transformation station critical to the Druzhba pipeline’s operations. Szijjarto cited Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin as saying it was not yet clear when shipments would resume.
“For 3.5 years, Brussels and Kyiv have tried to drag Hungary into the war in Ukraine. These repeated Ukrainian attacks on our energy supply serve that same purpose,” the foreign minister wrote. “This is not our war. We have nothing to do with it, and as long as we are in charge, Hungary will stay out of it.”
Last Thursday, Szijjarto claimed that Ukrainian drones had struck an oil pumping station on the Druzhba line, disrupting flows. Sorokin at the time had suggested deliveries could resume by Friday.
The European Union banned most Russian oil imports after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but exempted the Druzhba pipeline, which currently supplies Hungary and Slovakia. The Czech Republic also used to rely on the Russian pipeline, but early this year it ended deliveries after connecting to a separate pipeline in Italy.
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