On 22 August, the heads of the foreign ministries of Hungary and Slovakia sent an official letter to the European Commission asking Ukraine to stop attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline.
According to the ministries, within nine days Ukraine has already suffered its third attack on the infrastructure of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which transports oil from Russia to Hungary and Slovakia.
The European Commission has not yet commented on the appeals, but earlier Budapest and Bratislava responded to a similar statement by pointing out that cutting off supplies from Russia does not threaten their energy security, as there are alternative ways of supplying oil to Slovakia and Hungary.
The third strike on the Druzhba oil pipeline infrastructure in August – in Russia’s Bryansk region – was reported on the night of 22 August by Robert Brovdi (“Magyar”), commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Force. Previous strikes were on 13 August and 18 August.
Hungarian authorities have accused Ukraine of obstructing energy supplies to the country. After a previous such incident, when an oil refinery in Russia’s Tambov region was attacked on the night of 18 August, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga advised his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto to complain to Moscow.
On 22 August, Hungary and then Slovakia said that oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to those countries had stopped again because of the strike on the pipeline. This came a few days after the Hungarian Foreign Ministry said on 20 August that deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline had resumed after the previous strike.