Russian oil deliveries to Hungary halted following attack on Druzhba pipeline – UPDATE: Ukraine’s response
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has called it “unacceptable and shocking” that “Ukraine has launched another attack against an oil pipeline in Russia that supplies Hungary,” adding that deliveries to Hungary through the pipeline had been halted.
Russian oil deliveries to Hungary halted
Following talks by phone with Pavel Sorokin, Russia’s energy minister, Szijjártó said on Facebook on Monday that work was under way to fix a crucial transformer, but added that it was not clear when it would become operational again.
The minister said “Brussels and Kyiv have been trying to push Hungary into the war in Ukraine for three and a half years, and … the more and more frequent Ukrainian attacks against our energy security are aimed accordingly.”
“Let us make it clear again: it is not our war … and we want to stay out, and as long as we are on government, we will,” Szijjártó said. Szijjártó added, “as a reminder to Ukraine’s decision makers” that electricity supplied by Hungary to Ukraine was crucial for that country’s energy supply.
UPDATE: Ukraine says Russia ‘unreliable partner’
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha responded to Szijjarto’s remarks, stressing that it was Russia that started the war and “refuses to end it.” “Hungary has been told for years that Moscow is an unreliable partner. Despite this, Hungary has made every effort to maintain its reliance on Russia. Even after the full-scale war began. You can now send your complaints—and threats—to your friends in Moscow,” Sybiha said.
Ukraine has recently stepped up attacks against Russian oil and fuel installations, the Turkish Anadolu News Agency wrote. Hungary was the only European country that did not back Ukraine’s freedom to decide its own future in a joint statement of EU states ahead of Friday’s Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The country recently rejected the European Commission’s proposed budget, saying it allocates nearly 20% of resources to Ukraine and military spending and voicing disinterest in a “war budget.” Hungary has also expressed opposition to the EU’s sanctions on Russia and Ukraine’s bid for membership.
UPDATE 2: Hungarian government – Ukraine depends on Hungarian electricity
Electricity and gas deliveries to Ukraine via Hungary are multiples of earlier levels, Gábor Czepek, a state secretary at the Energy Ministry, said on Monday.In a statement issued by the Energy Ministry, Czepek said 1.65bn cubic metres of gas had been delivered to Ukraine via Hungary in January-August, nearly level with volume for the entire year in 2024.
Deliveries of gas via Hungary reached 1.32bn cubic metres in 2023, double the 620m cubic metres in 2022, he added. Around 40pc of Ukraine’s electricity imports are delivered via Hungary, he said, adding that volume reached 2.14 TWh in 2024 and 1.09 TWh in 2023.
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Featured image: illustration. Source: depositphotos.com