Khaberni - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that the repairs to the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Eastern Europe, cannot be completed quickly despite requests from the European Union and protests from Hungary.
Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been disrupted since January 27, when Kyiv said a Russian strike had damaged pipeline equipment in western Ukraine. Slovakia and Hungary say Ukraine is responsible for the outage.
Zelensky told reporters "First, it cannot be done this quickly," adding that Russian strikes had destroyed the pipeline.
During a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the war between Russia and Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union is asking Ukraine to accelerate the repairs.
Zelensky said "They advise us to repair it, but they know that Druzhba has already been attacked... Our children have been harmed in the process of operating it."
Orban's Accusations
Despite the war, Ukraine continued to transport Russian oil through pipelines that pass through its territory, but stopped transporting Russian gas at the beginning of last year.
Hungary accused Kyiv of deliberately disrupting the pipeline's reoperation, which has been the main route for delivering Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia since the 1960s.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday that the suspension was purely political and that Ukraine "is preparing to take further actions."
He added "The Ukrainian government is pressuring Hungary and Slovakia with an oil ban." Ukraine has not yet responded to his comments.
The conflict has been long-standing between Orban and the European Union over Ukraine, among other issues. Orban has maintained friendly relations with Moscow and refused to send weapons to Ukraine, saying that Kyiv should never join the 27-country bloc.
Attacks on Naftogaz
Russia has sharply intensified its attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and the gas sector in recent months, causing a severe shortage of power and depriving Ukraine of about half of its gas production capacity, forcing it to increase imports from Europe.
Part of these imports come from Hungary and Slovakia, who have threatened to stop emergency electricity exports to Ukraine due to the Druzhba dispute.
At the request of U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia agreed to stop the attacks for a short period earlier this month.
Zelensky said "The Hungarians should plead with the Russians to grant a truce in the energy sector."
Kyiv has repeatedly attacked Russian oil facilities, including the part of the Druzhba pipeline that runs through Russian territory, but it has also proposed an energy-related truce to Moscow.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftogaz said that 60 Russian drones had attacked its facilities in the north and east of the country.
In a statement, it said "The strikes on gas storage and production facilities in the Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions continued relentlessly for two days."
