Ukraine and Hungary in renewed clash over Druzhba oil pipeline
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he plans to write a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which carries Russian crude to Hungary and Slovakia.
Ukraine continues to target infrastructure on Russia’s Druzhba (“Friendship”) pipeline, which supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. On August 22, after Ukraine’s defense forces again struck pipeline infrastructure—halting Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia for the third time this month—Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called it “a blow to energy security.”
Volodymyr Zelensky was asked whether he had gained more leverage over Orban—who is blocking the opening of the first cluster of accession talks between Ukraine and the EU—after the strikes on Druzhba.
“We have always supported friendship between Ukraine and Hungary. And now the existence of ‘Friendship’ depends on Hungary’s position,” Zelensky said with a smile.
Until now, Kyiv had refrained from hitting Druzhba—primarily to avoid irreparably damaging relations with Hungary.
“But Orban’s new course left us no choice… Officially, Ukraine will of course not acknowledge a link between these strikes and the accession process, but too many ‘coincidences’ leave little doubt,” European Pravda argued.
In other words, journalists link the strikes in part to Budapest’s blocking of Ukraine’s EU bid.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Hungary traded barbs over Zelensky’s remarks and the pipeline attacks.
“We firmly reject intimidation by the president of Ukraine. We consider sovereignty and territorial integrity fundamental values of international politics. Therefore we respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country and expect the same from others,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
He added that in recent days Ukraine had carried out serious attacks on Hungary’s energy supplies, and that an attack on energy security is, in his words, an attack on sovereignty.
“A war to which Hungary has no relation can never justify a violation of our sovereignty. We call on Zelensky to stop threatening Hungary and the reckless attacks on our energy security!” Szijjarto stressed.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha responded, noting that he was replying “in Hungarian style.”
“You do not need to tell the president of Ukraine what to do, what to say and when. He is the president of Ukraine, not of Hungary. Hungary’s energy security is in your hands. Diversify energy supplies and become independent of Russia, like the rest of Europe,” Sybiha wrote on X.
Tamas Deutsch, a European Parliament member from Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, equated Ukraine’s strike on Druzhba with “an armed attack on the European Union.” The European Commission, for its part, said the Ukrainian strike on the Druzhba pipeline does not affect oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia, despite Budapest’s complaints about Kyiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he decided to write a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump over Ukraine’s attack on the Druzhba pipeline.
“The pipeline supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia—two countries that have no other way to import oil. Hungary supports Ukraine with gasoline and electricity, and in return they are bombarding the infrastructure that supplies us. This is a very unfriendly gesture! I wish President Trump success in his quest for peace,” Orban wrote.
The American president allegedly replied: “Viktor, I don’t like what I’m hearing—I am very angry about this. Tell Slovakia you are my great friend.”