Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said that oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to his country have stopped again due to a strike on the pipeline.
“Overnight we received news that the Druzhba oil pipeline on the Russian-Belarusian border was attacked again – for the third time in a short period of time. Oil supplies to Hungary have again been cut off. This is yet another attack on our country’s energy security. Another attempt to drag us into war,” Szijjártó wrote on Facebook on the morning of 22 August.
On the night of 22 August, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Force, Robert Brovdi (“Magyar”), said that the Ukrainian military had hit the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia again.
According to him, the strike hit the Unecha oil pumping station in the Bryansk region of Russia. He also released a video of the fire caused by the strike. Russia has not yet commented.
On 18 August, Robert Brovdy said that the strike on the Nikolskoye oil pumping station in Russia’s Tambov Region had indefinitely halted the operation of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which supplies Russian oil via Ukraine to Slovakia and Hungary.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó then also accused Ukraine of “attacking the energy security” of his country. And Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga responded to his colleague by reminding him that Hungary had systematically made efforts over the years to maintain its energy dependence on Russia, despite long reservations that Moscow was not a reliable partner.
The European Commission said it did not have enough information about the attack on the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia, but did not see it as a risk to the EU’s energy supply.
On 20 August, Szijjártó announced the resumption of oil supplies from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline.