On 24 August, at a press conference in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted that the attacks on the pipeline could be linked to Hungary’s position of not supporting Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union.
The response was not long in coming. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accused Kyiv of ‘undermining the country’s energy security’ in a Facebook post and said that such actions could be seen as a threat to sovereignty. ‘A war that we have nothing to do with is not a legitimate explanation for violating our sovereignty,’ the Hungarian minister emphasised, calling on Zelenskyy to ‘stop threatening Hungary and stop jeopardising its energy security.’
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga publicly disagreed with Szijjártó’s statement. On social media, he wrote: ‘I will respond like the Hungarians. You should not tell the Ukrainian president what to do or say and when. He is the president of Ukraine, not Hungary.’ Sybiga added that Hungary’s energy security depends primarily on Budapest itself: ‘Diversify and become independent from Russia, like the rest of Europe.’
Since last August, the Druzhba oil pipeline has been shut down several times after being attacked by Ukrainian drones. Hungarian and Slovak governments are concerned as both countries depend on Russian imports via this pipeline. The two countries’ foreign ministers complained to the European Commission, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sent a letter to US President Donald Trump.
The Druzhba pipeline remains one of the key routes for Russian oil to Central Europe. For Ukraine, attacks on infrastructure are seen as a way to put pressure on Moscow and their allies. But for Hungary, which is still a consumer of Russian energy resources, this is a threat to domestic stability in very direct terms.
