Szijjártó said Ukraine refused a meeting with Hungary and Slovakia regarding the Druzhba pipeline

Hungary and Slovakia proposed holding a meeting in Brussels with Ukraine’s energy minister on restoring the operation of the Druzhba oil pipeline, but Kyiv refused.

This was reported by Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó.

He noted that Ukraine continues to block supplies of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline.

“Together with the Slovaks, we proposed holding a trilateral meeting today in Brussels with Ukraine’s energy minister, but the Ukrainian side refused it at the last moment,” Szijjártó said while speaking to journalists in Brussels, where meetings of the EU Foreign Affairs Council and the Energy and Transport Council are taking place.

Hungary’s top diplomat уточнил (clarified) that he wanted to take part in this meeting together with Slovakia’s energy minister, but the Ukrainians rejected their initiative. They also did not want to meet a Hungarian delegation led by Deputy Energy Minister Gábor Czepek, which spent three and a half days in Kyiv last week, and did not allow EU, Hungarian, and Slovak experts to inspect the pipeline.

“All of these proposals were rejected,” Szijjártó said.

In his view, this only proves that the Druzhba pipeline is technically fit for operation and that Ukraine continues to block it solely for political reasons.

“And if this country tries to impose an oil blockade against us, then we will not support any decisions in Brussels that are beneficial to it,” the minister stressed.

Russian oil has not been supplied through the Druzhba pipeline to Hungarian refineries since January 27. In connection with this, Hungary and Slovakia asked Croatia to allow the transit of Russian crude via the Adriatic pipeline. Budapest took retaliatory measures against Kyiv by blocking a €90 billion EU “military loan” and stopping supplies of gasoline and diesel fuel. Hungary had previously warned that it would oppose any EU decisions in Kyiv’s favor until the oil blockade ends.