Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday, April 10th, that repairs to the Druzhba oil pipeline, shut down January 27 after an alleged Russian attack, could be completed by spring—if European financing continues to be guaranteed as a condition for oil shipments, and the responsibility for transit is taken on by European actors.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky said that while technical work is progressing, the destruction of storage tanks remains a major hurdle and that the security of the route depends entirely on whether Russia refrains from further strikes.
The status of the pipeline—which supplies Hungary and Slovakia with Russian crude oil—is under debate. In late February, the EU Commission “welcomed” a Hungarian fact-finding mission to Ukraine intended to determine the extent of any damage and confirmed they were in touch with Kyiv to schedule the visit.
A month ago, Slovakian PM Robert Fico said, after a meeting with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, that the EU had offered to fund repairs, “if such repairs are needed at all.” Fico has said that satellite images prove the oil pipeline is fully operational and argued that aside from one small storage tank, the main route is intact, directly contradicting Ukrainian claims. He accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of attempting to blackmail Slovakia and Hungary by halting oil transit.
The pipeline disruption has strained relations, prompting Hungary and Slovakia to halt diesel shipments to Ukraine. Hungary also continues to block the €90 billion EU loan for Kyiv, citing the energy blockade.
The Ukrainian leader’s comments on the issue have been all over the map.
On March 5, Zelensky said Ukraine was not blocking access to the facility by representatives of the European Commission but considered its own verification of the damage sufficient. After having repeatedly denied that there is a political dimension to the halting of oil distribution, he told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne Ukraine that his position was not to restore the pipeline:
I told this to the leaders of Europe and told those who called me with this issue, as well as to the leadership of the European Union. Because this is Russian oil. There are some principles that have no price. The Russians are killing us, and we must give oil to Orbán, because without this oil he cannot win the elections. Therefore, this is my position.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the EU is linking financial assistance to Ukraine and the €90 billion euro loan to the restoration of the pipeline.
Twelve days later, in a March 17 letter to the EU Commission, he claimed Ukraine had been “working on an alternative technical solution since the first days after the attack” and that he expected the pipeline to be operational within approximately one and a half months”—and, at the same time, emphasized the importance of “allowing the first tranche [of the €90 billion EU loan] to be disbursed already at the beginning of April.”
The EU-backed fact-finding mission seems to have quietly stalled, with the dispute now slowly drifting toward a resolution based on Ukraine’s own repair timeline rather than a joint inspection.
There have been no public updates confirming that the EU expert team has visited the pipeline site or completed its assessment. Recent Commission briefings report no new developments on the mission’s progress or whereabouts, with spokesmen citing the sensitive/security nature of the situation.
