EU urges Ukraine to grant access to Druzhba for Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia - FT
Kyiv • UNN
Ukraine is under pressure from the EU to allow inspection of the damaged Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. Kyiv claims significant damage from a Russian airstrike, but Hungary and Slovakia accuse Ukraine of deliberately blocking it.
Ukraine is under pressure to allow the EU to inspect the damaged Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.
Details
This comes as the two pro-Kremlin countries accuse Kyiv of exaggerating the consequences of Moscow's attack - despite what Ukrainian officials say is evidence of widespread destruction.
"Ukraine says it needs time to repair the Druzhba pipeline and has provided evidence of damage from a Russian airstrike in January, but Hungary and Slovakia claim Kyiv deliberately shut it down," the publication writes.
Hungary has delayed approval of an EU loan for Ukraine until it is restored and has offered to send a fact-finding mission to Ukraine with Slovakia.
According to five EU diplomats and officials, some pro-Ukrainian EU governments and the European Commission are now also asking Kyiv to allow a visit to prove that it is trying to restore oil flows
Two of them stated that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, during their visit to Kyiv on the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, "specifically asked the Ukrainian leadership to provide access to the Druzhba pipeline for an independent assessment of the damage, but they were refused." The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The dispute has become even more urgent as energy prices have risen after US and Israeli military actions against Iran disrupted global oil and gas supplies. "And it has escalated as Kyiv continues to deny European inspectors access," the publication states.
"One senior EU diplomat said Kyiv had scored an 'own goal' by giving Hungary an excuse to block the loan," the publication said.
"We cannot say whether there is damage or not. There are very simple ways to document it and show that they are working hard to fix it. They have not done so," they said.
A senior Ukrainian official close to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "refuted suggestions that Kyiv was delaying, saying that technicians from Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz had provided European counterparts with evidence that Druzhba had suffered serious damage."
Serhiy Koretsky, head of Naftogaz, told the Financial Times that "a Russian strike caused a fire in a tank storing 75,000 cubic meters of oil, 'which took 10 days to extinguish.'"
"Numerous pieces of equipment, power cables, transformers, and the leak detection system responsible for sealing the pipelines were damaged," he said. "The air attack caused a fire in the largest oil storage facility in Europe, which is the size of a football field."
Given the extent of the damage, he said, "a full assessment will take time and is expected soon."
Ukraine's state-owned Ukrtransnafta said at the time of the attack that "emergency repair work" was underway, but that relentless Russian attacks made safe operation difficult, the publication writes.
A Ukrainian official said that restoration would require sending repair crews to potentially dangerous areas and redirecting limited resources.
"Why should we repair a pipeline - during a war and without a ceasefire - that supplies oil from Russia to Russia's friends?" the official asked.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has delayed approval of a €90 billion EU aid package for Ukraine over the dispute, intensifying his anti-Ukrainian stance ahead of elections he could lose, according to polls.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Orban of using the issue to bolster his election campaign and, in an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, said he was not inclined to make things easier for his Hungarian counterpart.
"Now you are blocking 90 billion euros... money we need for weapons, for survival," the President of Ukraine said.
"As tensions rose, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova appealed through Zelenskyy's office to inspect the damaged pipeline or send other EU diplomats, according to two people familiar with the matter. According to sources, the request was rejected for security reasons," the publication says.
On Monday, Orban said he "has satellite data showing that the Druzhba pipeline was not damaged enough to render it inoperable, and said he would continue to take 'countermeasures' until Ukraine restores oil supplies."
"Satellite images reviewed by the Financial Times clearly showed damage at the pipeline's location from a Russian airstrike. But the extent of the destruction cannot be assessed solely from these images," the publication writes.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that his and Orban's proposal to conduct a "fact-finding mission" to determine the extent of the damage had been rejected.
A Ukrainian official insisted that Zelenskyy had invited Fico to discuss the issue directly in Kyiv, but the invitation was rejected.
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