The Ukrainian leader will “never” reopen the Druzhba pipeline, the Slovak prime minister has said
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky will never restore oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, which serves as the key artery for delivering Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said.
He has rebuked the EU for its reluctance to exert sufficient pressure on Kiev to unlock oil supplies despite having ample opportunity to do so.
Ukraine shut down the key Soviet-era pipeline in late January, claiming the halt was due to damage by a Russian drone strike. Moscow, however, has denied targeting it, with Bratislava and Budapest also rejecting Kiev’s account and insisting it was part of a Ukrainian blackmail campaign.
In a video address on Sunday, Fico said that he had spoken with Zelensky about the situation, describing the call as “very strange.” “Zelensky will never put oil through the Druzhba pipeline, never,” he said.
“It looks as if he wants to punish us. Because you have peaceful positions, you have different opinions than us, that you do not support war loans and that you are not for war, then you will not have gas and you will not have oil.”
In separate remarks on Saturday, he challenged the EU over the inability to dispatch a fact-finding mission to the pipeline. “A legitimate question must arise as to whose interests are more important for [the EU]— those of Ukraine or those of EU member states,” Fico said.
The Slovak prime minister recalled that Brussels has immense financial leverage over Zelensky but deliberately refrains from using it. “Dear Vladimir, do you want European money?.. I’m afraid that none of the key players in the EU will ever say this sentence to President Zelensky. This style of communication is only used towards EU member states that allow themselves to have sovereign opinions.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban earlier accused Ukraine of preventing the country’s delegation from inspecting the pipeline, suggesting that the Zelensky team is doing so to conceal deceit.
Both Hungary and Slovakia have long been at odds with Kiev as they have opposed Ukraine’s membership in the EU and NATO, arguing it could draw the blocs into a direct conflict with Russia. The two countries have also been reluctant to bankroll Kiev’s military effort against Moscow.