Media: EU weighs helping repair Druzhba pipeline to unlock Ukraine loan
The European Union is considering providing Ukraine with financial support to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline as Hungary and Slovakia block aid for Kyiv and sanctions against Russia until supplies through the pipeline resume.
Sources told Bloomberg that the European Commission could provide support through the budgetary assistance it provides to Ukraine. The EU is also willing to provide expertise, said the people speaking on condition of anonymity.
In an interview with Bloomberg last month, Serhii Koretskyi, CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, the state-owned oil and gas company of Ukraine, said Russia had attacked the facility in January, causing a storage tank fire that took 10 days to extinguish and damaging equipment, power cables, transformers and the leak detection system.
Hungary and Slovakia accused Ukraine of holding back supplies while questioning the scale of the damage. Neither country acknowledged the January Russian strike.
The sources said the Druzhba site has been hit nearly two dozen times since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. Repairs were often carried out under Russian attack, putting emergency workers' lives at risk, and Moscow is likely to strike the pipeline again after repairs, they added.
Hungary's block on aid has frustrated the EU and several capitals, which accused Budapest of breaking a December promise to approve the loan for Ukraine.
Hungary has also refused to consider alternatives to Russian energy supplies, such as deliveries via Croatia, arguing that oil from Moscow is cheaper. EU ambassadors discussed the issue at a meeting on Wednesday 4 March.
The EU's executive is in talks with Kyiv on the possibility of sending a fact-finding mission to verify the damage at the Druzhba site, the sources said, adding that the discussions are ongoing.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he wants to coordinate a position on the Druzhba pipeline with the European Commission before meeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Earlier, Fico held a press conference presenting satellite images, which he claims confirm the absence of critical damage to the Druzhba oil pipeline.