Bratislava/Budapest, August 22 (TASR) – The Ukrainian army has attacked the infrastructure of the Druzhba oil pipeline on Russian territory three times in nine days, leading to a suspension of supplies through the pipeline that transports oil to Slovakia and Hungary. The foreign ministers of Slovakia and Hungary, Juraj Blanár and Péter Szijjártó, therefore sent a joint open letter on Friday to the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, TASR reports.
Juraj Blanár and Peter in a joint letter called on the European Commission (EC) to immediately ensure compliance with the commitments to energy supply security of EU member states.
The ministers Noted to Kaja Kallas and And Jorgensen that the EC in its statement of January 27, 2025, stated that the integrity of the energy infrastructure supplying EU member states is a matter of security for the entire Union. In this context, the Commission called on all third countries to respect this.
“The Commission declared in this statement that it is ready to protect our critical energy infrastructure, which includes oil pipelines, therefore we consider it absolutely essential for the EU to stand up for the interests of member states and the energy security of its citizens, including those of Slovakia. Any threat to the energy security of our country is unacceptable,” stated Blanár.
The head of Slovak diplomacy also pointed out that during recent attacks on the Druzhba pipeline, oil supplies were last halted on Monday and were quickly restored after repairs. However, the attack by Ukrainian forces that occurred on Thursday seriously damaged the pipeline, according to the minister, and the extent of the damage is still unknown, which will fundamentally affect supplies to the Slovak refinery.
“Given that the EU and its member states have provided Ukraine with support worth hundreds of billions of euros in recent years, we consider the actions of Ukraine that seriously threaten the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia to be completely unacceptable. In this context, we strongly urge the Commission to immediately fulfill the commitments stated in the above-mentioned declaration and ensure the security of energy supplies to its member states,” wrote the ministers of Hungary and Slovakia.
“Given that the EU and its member states have provided Ukraine with support worth hundreds of billions of euros in recent years, we consider the actions of Ukraine that seriously threaten the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia to be completely unacceptable.” Juraj Blanár
