Kiev’s renewed strikes on the Druzhba pipeline system have halted Russian oil supplies, Slovakia has said
Slovakia has lashed out at Ukraine over the latter’s recent strikes on Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline system, a key supply route for EU countries, calling the attack an “unacceptable” threat to its energy security.
Druzhba is one of the world’s longest pipeline networks, transporting crude some 4,000km from Russia and Kazakhstan to refineries in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. Running through Ukraine, the conduit is the primary route for Russian crude deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia.
On Friday, Bratislava and Budapest informed the European Commission that Kiev had carried out several attacks on the pipeline in recent days, the latest of which was earlier on Friday. Slovak officials later said the section of the pipeline damaged in the latest attack is expected to be repaired by Monday, but supplies would only resume a few days after that.
“Any threat to our country’s energy security is unacceptable,” Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar wrote on X.
According to Budapest, the latest strike occurred near the Russian-Belarusian border. It follows two earlier attacks, on August 13 and August 18. Kiev confirmed it had sent drones to strike a key distribution station in Russia’s Bryansk Region.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian energy infrastructure throughout the conflict. Apart from Druzhba, the Ukrainian military has attacked the TurkStream pipeline, which supplies natural gas to Turkish consumers and several European countries, including Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece. Earlier this year, Kiev struck a gas metering station near Sudzha, part of a pipeline that supplied the EU prior to the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
READ MORE: Ukraine launches new attack on key pipeline to EU – Hungary
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban raised the issue directly with US President Donald Trump, calling the attacks a “very unfriendly move” against countries that support Ukraine with electricity and fuel. Trump, in a handwritten note posted by Orban’s political director on Facebook, replied: “I do not like hearing this – I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia you are my great friend.”
The Kremlin has consistently condemned Ukrainian attacks on civilian energy infrastructure as acts of terrorism.
