Budapest has accused Kyiv of deliberately blocking progress on repairing the infrastructure in order to engineer an energy crisis in the Hungary. In response, Hungarian Prime Viktor Orb\u00e1n has been blocking the release of a \u20ac90 billion tranche of EU funding for Ukraine needed to keep the war-torn country financially afloat.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the European Commission proposed sending a fact-finding mission<\/a> to inspect the damage to the Druzhba pipeline in an attempt to resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n “If we have decided to restore Russian oil supplies, then I want them to know that I am against it. \u2026 But if I am given conditions that Ukraine will not receive weapons, then, excuse me, I am powerless on this issue; I told our friends in Europe that this is called blackmail,” Zelenskyy said in reported remarks<\/a>.<\/p>\n The price of oil has surged passed $100 a barrel in recent days due to disruptions linked to the war in Iran, which began with American-Israeli strikes on Tehran on Feb. 28. Washington has eased sanctions<\/a> on certain Russian oil consignments in response to the price pressure.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Ukraine’s state oil and gas company, Naftogaz, announced<\/a> that it had held a briefing with European and G7 ambassadors where it updated them on the state of the Druzhba pipeline. The company said the pipeline had been heavily damaged following a Russian attack in January.<\/p>\n