The European Union welcomes Ukraine's commitment to restore the Druzhba oil pipeline within six weeks, said European Council President António Costa at a press conference following the EU summit, writes UNN.
We welcome Ukraine's efforts and commitment to restore the Druzhba pipeline, destroyed by Russia, and we welcome President Zelenskyy's public commitment to restore this Druzhba pipeline within the next six weeks.
He noted that the European Commission has offered Ukraine technical and financial support for the restoration of the Druzhba pipeline.
"But we can take into account that it is an unfair act when a condition is set that neither the European Union nor the member states can ensure, since only Russia is ready to decide whether it will try to destroy the Druzhba pipeline again or not. Russia has attacked the Druzhba pipeline 23 times," Costa noted.
"For the 23rd time, Ukraine will restore it again, this Druzhba pipeline. And, of course, this is not the responsibility of Ukraine, it is not the responsibility of the European Union, it is not the responsibility of the European Commission, the European Council, any member state, and therefore what Hungary is doing is absolutely unacceptable, and such behavior cannot be accepted by leaders. And that is why today the leaders in the European Council clearly spoke out, clearly condemning Hungary's behavior on this issue," Costa said.
Addition
As reported by Politico, "an EU technical team has already arrived in Ukraine and is awaiting permission from the Security Service to inspect the pipeline and assess the extent of the damage and the timing of repairs."
Last week, the EU offered to send a mission to inspect the oil pipeline, and Ukraine accepted the EU's offer of technical support and funding to restore oil supplies through the damaged pipeline.
Ukraine to resume transit of Russian oil via Druzhba in a month and a half17.03.26, 19:39
Hungary and Slovakia have been cut off from Russian oil supplies via Druzhba since late January after a Russian strike.
Hungary and Slovakia, the only EU countries still importing Russian oil, accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of oil flows for political reasons.
At the EU summit on Thursday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was pressured to unblock a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine. However, this was not achieved.