Energy pipelines under fire: alleged TurkStream attack and Druzhba shutdown risk – what it means for Hungary

Two major pipeline routes linked to Central Europe are again at the centre of security and political tensions. Russia has claimed Ukrainian drones targeted facilities connected to TurkStream (in Hungarian: Török Áramlat) gas exports, while crude oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba (in Hungarian: Barátság) pipeline have been halted since 27 January 2026 after damage on Ukrainian territory. The combined effect is not an immediate “running out” scenario, but a sharper sense of vulnerability: incidents, repairs and transit politics can ripple quickly into prices, logistics and diplomacy.

What is TurkStream and why it matters

TurkStream is a Black Sea gas corridor delivering Russian gas to Turkey, with onward routes feeding parts of south-eastern and central Europe. For Hungary, this matters because the region increasingly relies on southern supply routes when other pathways are constrained.

TurkStream: allegations of drone attacks, but no confirmed supply interruption

On 11 March 2026, Russian officials and Russian media reported that Ukrainian drones attempted to strike facilities linked to TurkStream and Blue Stream, including a compressor station, and claimed air defences intercepted the attacks. The reporting also cited Russia’s assertion that the targeted facility continued operating “normally” and that there was no disruption to gas supplies.

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó treats the highly questionable Russian reports as fact, and since Moscow made this claim, the Hungarian government has been repeating it, even though there is no evidence.

For readers outside Hungary: in situations like this, it is important to separate three layers of risk:

• Operational risk (did flows stop?),
• Security risk (is critical infrastructure being targeted?), and
• Market/political risk (does the incident change negotiating positions or price expectations?).

At the moment, the publicly available information points mainly to an elevated security and political risk, rather than verified, long-lasting physical disruption of TurkStream deliveries.

Druzhba: oil flows to Hungary have been halted since late January

The Druzhba oil pipeline situation is more concrete. MOL said that no crude oil had arrived via Druzhba to Hungary and Slovakia since 27 January 2026, prompting the company to initiate the release of strategic crude oil reserves and to arrange alternative supply via seaborne shipments through the Croatian port of Omišalj, then onward through the Adria route.

The European Commission stated on 26 February 2026 that, after coordination with member states, it saw no immediate oil supply concerns following the interruption of transit via Druzhba—an important reassurance, even if the outage remains strategically significant.