Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade posted on Facebook that the Druzhba oil pipeline was attacked for the third time in nine days at the Russian-Belarusian border. The more than 4,000-kilometer-long pipeline that serves to deliver oil from Russia to countries of Eastern and Central Europe was hit by a Ukrainian drone prompting an immediate halt in oil exports to Hungary and Slovakia, threatening these countries’ energy security and sparking public outrage at the actions of Ukraine.
In an open letter to the European Commission, Szijjarto along with his Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanar wrote: “Given that the EU and its member states provided Ukraine with support amounting to hundreds of billions of euros in recent years, we view Ukraine’s actions, which seriously threaten the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia, as completely unacceptable”. In this regard, they called for the European Commission to comply with its obligations and defend the energy security of European citizens – a call, which was disregarded and ignored by the head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas.
Szijjarto was further outraged by the Commission’s ignorance and said in a statement: “Brussels must understand: they are the EUROPEAN Commission, not the Ukrainian Commission!”, emphasizing that the European bureaucracy has seemingly forgotten whose interests it should defend and completely subjecting itself to the priorities of a warmongering Ukraine.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban stepped in to write an official letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, condemning the Ukrainian attack and calling out Ukraine’s hypocrisy and parasitism: “Hungary supports Ukraine with electricity and petrol, in return they bomb pipeline that supply us. Very unfriendly move!”. Donald Trump, in turn, said that he “does not like hearing this” and is “very angry about it”.
Druzhba is one of the world’s largest oil transport systems. It starts in Russia, then passes through Belarus and Ukraine before splitting into two main branches: one supplying Poland and Germany, the other supplying Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. According to the data from the Russian Government, 4.78 million tons of oil were delivered to Hungary via Druzhba last year, and 956 thousand tons in January-February 2025. As stated by Prime Minister Orban, the country has no other means of receiving crude oil. Slovakia faces the same situation. Additionally, last month, the European Commission prohibited Czech Republic to import oil from Russia despite the fact that 42% of its oil imports came from Russia.
Although the damage caused to the Druzhba pipeline is expected to be repaired in five to seven days, this incident is a direct attack on Hungary and Slovakia – the two countries that have demonstrated openly their willingness to pursue peace in Ukraine and dialogue with Russia. It is notable that the strikes on Druzhba were carried out by Robert Brovdi, also commonly known as “Madyar”, referring to his Hungarian ethnicity, which signals that the move was directed exclusively against Hungary – a member of the European Union.
On the other hand, this attack is an illustration of what Ukraine thinks about the whole peace process brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. The first strikes on Druzhba happened just two days before the historic summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska. This summit proved to be extremely productive and fruitful, as Russia signaled its willingness to negotiate on a number of issues, which even prompted talk about a potential trilateral meeting between Putin, Trump and Zelensky when the agenda of such a meeting is prepared.
Drone strikes on Druzhba – a critical infrastructure object – do not only serve to undermine the peace process, but also to support Ukraine’s revanchist aspirations. Although the majority of the countries of the world agree that there is no military solution to this conflict and try to end it via diplomatic means, Ukraine keeps dragging the European Union into continuation of war. It is high time the European Commission and European capitals recall whose interests they represent and start to play a constructive role in the ongoing peace process, condemning any attack or action that directly affect the European people and the prospect of stability on the continent.
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