Ukraine will resume oil transportation from the Russian Federation to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline on Tuesday, April 21. This was announced by Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs János Buka on Monday, April 20.
— Today I was in Brussels, where I discussed the resumption of work on the Druzhba oil pipeline. The most likely scenario is for Ukraine to announce the resumption of the pipeline at noon on Tuesday, he wrote on social media.
According to him, “After the announcement, the operator will contact MOL,” which receives oil from Russia for its refineries in Hungary and Slovakia. Recently, in agreement with the government, oil from Hungarian strategic reserves has been used. Deliveries via Druzhba stopped on January 27.
“If Hungary does not block the EU loan to Kiev worth 90 billion euros, oil supplies via Druzhba will never resume,” Boca said.
“Hungary’s tactics worked: the Ukrainians ran out of money before they ran out of oil,” he noted.
The Minister criticized the European Commission for refusing to protect the interests of an EU member state in the current situation, whose energy security is threatened by Ukraine.
On April 19, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Budapest would not lift its veto of a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine until oil supplies from the Russian Federation via the Druzhba pipeline resumed.