For second time in a week, Ukrainian strike cuts Russian oil supply to EU’s Hungary, Slovakia

Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia could get blocked for at least five days as a result of the latest Ukrainian raid on a Russian facility, the Hungarian and Slovakian governments warned on Friday, escalating the consequences from the Ukraine conflict.

Russia and Ukraine have increased assaults on each other’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks, despite US President Donald Trump’s efforts to seek an agreement to end the four-year conflict.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European Union decreased its energy imports from Russia and plans to phase out Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

EU members Slovakia and Hungary are opposed to the phase-out, saying their economies depend on the Russian supplies. The two countries have also opposed to sanctions against Russia that Ukraine says are vital to push Moscow towards a viable peace.

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The Hungarian and Slovak governments wrote to Europe’s executive Commission on Friday saying that the latest Ukrainian attack could leave them without Russian oil imports for at least five days, urging it to guarantee the security of supplies.

“The physical and geographical reality is that without this pipeline, the safe supply of our countries is simply not possible,” Foreign Ministers Peter Szijjarto and Juraj Blanar said in a letter.

The Ukrainian strike on Thursday night marked the second time this week that Russian oil supplies have been cut to Hungary and Slovakia, after a halt on Monday and Tuesday.

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Ukraine’s military said late on Thursday it had again struck the Unecha oil pumping station, a critical part of Russia’s Europe-bound Druzhba oil pipeline, the commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces said late on Thursday.

A Russian industry source also said the supplies could be halted for a few days. The Russian energy ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s gas infrastructure, hitting preparations for winter heating for the population and fuel for key industries in attacks it says are aimed at degrading its military. Ukraine has damaged several Russian refineries, aiming to disrupt Russian energy exports financing Russia’s invasion and create fuel shortages in a number of Russian regions.

Germany says Kazakh oil supply unaffected

The Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Belarus and Ukraine, ships oil from Kazakhstan to Germany as well as from Russia to Hungary and Slovakia. Germany said its supplies of Kazakh oil were unaffected by the latest strike.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his government learned on Thursday evening of the attack.

“This is another attack against our energy security,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.

Slovak pipeline operator Transpetrol confirmed the interruption in an emailed statement.

Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces, posted a video on Telegram messenger showing a large fire at a facility with numerous fuel tanks. Reuters could not confirm the location of the infrastructure in the video.

Russian regional governor Alexander Bogomaz, whose Bryansk region borders both Ukraine and Belarus in the far west of Russia, said on Friday that an energy facility at Unecha had caught fire as a result of Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, adding that the blaze has been extinguished.

“As a result of repelling a combined attack carried out by HIMARS MLRS missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, a fire broke out at a fuel infrastructure facility in the Unecha district,” Bogomaz said on Telegram.