EU Pushes Ukraine on Russian Oil Transit
The EU is reportedly urging Ukraine to allow a key pipeline to continue transiting Russian oil to Europe. The move highlights the delicate balance European nations are trying to strike between supporting Ukraine and maintaining their own energy security.
The pipeline at the center of the dispute is the southern branch of the Druzhba ("Friendship") network, a Soviet-era artery that is one of the world's longest. While the EU has broadly banned Russian seaborne oil imports, landlocked Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic were granted a specific exemption to continue receiving crude via this route. Flows through the pipeline ceased on January 27, 2026, following what Ukraine identified as a Russian drone strike on the Brody pumping station. This has created a geopolitical standoff, with Kyiv citing extensive damage requiring time for repairs, while Budapest and Bratislava accuse Ukraine of deliberately prolonging the outage. The dependency is significant: Hungary and Slovakia source between 86% and 100% of their crude oil from this single pipeline. In 2025 alone, the southern branch transported 9.7 million metric tons of oil, with Slovakia receiving 4.9 million and Hungary 4.35 million tons. This disruption persists despite a long-term contractual obligation. In 2019, Ukraine's state operator Ukrtransnafta and Russia's Transneft signed a 10-year transit agreement that is not set to expire until January 1, 2030. The shutdown is now a key point of leverage in wider EU-Ukraine negotiations. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has held up a €90 billion EU financial aid package for Kyiv, tying its approval directly to the resumption of oil flows. In response, top EU officials, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, are now pressing Kyiv to allow an independent inspection team to assess the pipeline's damage. Ukraine has so far rejected these requests, citing the security risks of accessing the site during wartime.
