Russian oil deliveries to the European Union through the Druzhba pipeline have resumed, days after a Ukrainian strike on the line’s infrastructure brought shipments to a halt. Officials in Slovakia and Hungary confirmed the restoration of flows this week. Shipments stopped on August 18 following an attack on the Nikolskoye pumping station in Russia’s Tambov region. Ukrainian military officials asserted that Russia’s armed forces also use the site to support operations.
The disruption triggered another round of diplomatic tensions between Kyiv and Budapest. Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, blamed Kyiv and demanded that his country not be drawn into Ukraine’s war with Russia. He also pointedly noted that Ukraine receives much of its electricity from Hungary. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, shot back at Szijjarto: “You can now send your complaints — and threats — to your friends in Moscow.” Sybiha added: “It is Russia, not Ukraine, who began this war and refuses to end it.”
The strike on the Nikolskoye station was the second Ukrainian attack in a week on facilities linked to the Druzhba pipeline. On August 13, a distribution station in Russia’s Bryansk region was attacked, prompting Szijjarto to warn Ukraine not to jeopardize Hungary’s energy security or target vital transit routes.
Today, Druzhba is the only pipeline carrying Russian energy into the E.U. through Ukrainian territory. Until late last year, gas shipments also continued under prewar contracts with Gazprom, but those expired on January 1, 2025, and Kyiv declined to renew them. As a result, Europe’s energy supplies crossing Ukraine are now limited to oil and no longer include gas.
The oil transit contract for the Druzhba pipeline is valid through 2029. Within the European Union, however, officials are weighing a plan to halt all imports of Russian energy as early as late 2027. Until this spring, Druzhba also served the Czech Republic alongside Slovakia and Hungary, but Prague confirmed in April that it had fully transitioned to alternative oil supply routes.