The European Union said it will send financial aid and a team of experts to Ukraine with the aim of restoring the flow of oil from the Druzhba pipeline in a bid to lift Hungarian and Slovak obstacles to EU funds for Kyiv and further sanctions on Russia.
While no sums are mentioned and it is unclear when the team will arrive at the damaged pipeline, a joint statement issued on March 17 by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa notes that “the Ukrainians have welcomed and accepted this offer. European experts are available immediately.”
The Soviet-era pipeline, which carries Russian oil via Ukraine to the two landlocked central European countries, was damaged by a Russian missile in late January. Both Budapest and Bratislava have accused Kyiv of stalling to repair it for political reasons. Ukraine has rejected the accusation.
In the meantime, Hungary and Slovakia have refused to give green light to a 90 billion-euro loan for Ukraine, initially agreed by EU leaders in December, that would bankroll the war-torn country for 2026 and 2027.
They have also blocked the latest Russia sanctions, proposed by the bloc in January, that would target Russia’s energy sector among other things.
There is now hope in Brussels that both vetoes could be lifted before or during an EU summit in Brussels on March 19-20.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy recently said western allies were blackmailing Ukraine into repairing Druzhba and had previously refused to allow any EU team from visiting or inspecting the pipeline.
“The accusations that Ukraine is deliberately obstructing the transportation of oil through the Druzhba pipeline are groundless,” Zelenskyy said on March 17, noting Ukraine would accept the EU mission.
