An attack by Ukrainian forces on a Russian pipeline has left Hungary and Slovakia fearing oil cuts.
Ukrainian drones attacked the Unecha oil pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region on Thursday, setting off a large fire at the facility.
Ukraine’s military confirmed the strike on the Unecha facility, describing Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline as a vital node in Russia’s export system.
The drone strikes risk halting supplies for at least five days.
Analysts say Hungary and Slovakia are presently the top European importers of Russian crude oil.
Officials in Hungary and Slovakia said the strike on the Unecha oil pumping station, a key hub in western Russia, risked halting supplies for at least five days.
The Soviet-era pipeline, which runs through Belarus and Ukraine, is a crucial route for transferring Russian oil to Central Europe.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar wrote a joint letter to the European Commission urging Brussels to intervene and guarantee secure energy flows. “The physical and geographical reality is that without this pipeline, the safe supply of our countries is simply not possible,” they wrote.
The European Union, which reduced its reliance on Russian energy after Moscow launched its “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine in 2022, has pledged to phase out Moscow’s oil and gas entirely by 2027.
Hungary and Slovakia, however, remain dependent on Russia’s energy, keeping close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and blocking some sanctions packages that Kiev insists are necessary to mount added economic pressure on Moscow. Both Hungary and Slovakia insist that Russian energy is indispensable to them.
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