On Feb. 27 Kiev dug in its heels even deeper in its reported cutoff of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which delivers oil to Hungary and Slovakia under contract through 2030. The oil deliveries were stopped by Ukraine on Jan. 27, when they claimed the Russians had bombed their own pipeline. Since then, Kiev has claimed the pipeline is still under repairs.
Now, in response to the proposal by Hungary and Slovakia to send “inspectors to enter and to restart” the pipeline, Ukraine’s acting president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico that he could come to Kiev “to discuss” the matter. Fico reported that during the call, “I had the distinct impression that Ukraine has no interest in restoring oil transit through its territory.” He also asserted that “Zelenskyy’s rejection of that sort of inspection” was attributed to “a negative opinion from the Ukrainian secret services.”
Earlier, on Feb. 26, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote an open letter to Zelenskyy, in which he accused him of acting against Hungary’s interests. Kiev’s Foreign Ministry then proceeded to call in the Hungarian chargé d’affaires and told him, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó, that there is no physical or technical reason not to resume transportation, only political reasons. They also made it clear that they want weapons and money in exchange for the resumption of oil transportation to Hungary.
