Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó called the attacks “an open assault on Hungary’s energy security” and “another attempt to drag us into the war,” saying deliveries to Hungary were suspended overnight after a strike near the Russia–Belarus border. Authorities in Bratislava and Budapest said crude would not flow for at least five days.
Slovakia’s operator of the Druzhba section said shipments were stopped on the evening of August 21. Ukraine’s military struck a pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region, its third hit on the pipeline in recent days, after earlier targeting the Nikolskoye station in Tambov region. Flows briefly resumed on Tuesday before being halted again.
The disruption sparked a social media exchange between Budapest and Warsaw.
After Szijjarto warned again that Ukraine was trying to pull Hungary into the conflict, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski replied: “Peter, you have as much solidarity from us as we have from you.”
Hungary and Slovakia urged the European Commission to honor earlier commitments to safeguard critical energy infrastructure and ensure stable supplies.
The Hungarian foreign ministry said Kyiv’s actions repeatedly cut oil to Hungary and Slovakia, countries that rely on the Druzhba line for deliveries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán separately wrote to U.S. President Donald Trump complaining that Ukraine was blowing up the pipeline that supplies Hungary and Slovakia and arguing the countries have no alternative sources of crude. Orbán said Hungary provides Ukraine with electricity and fuel but is being repaid with strikes on the line, calling it a “very unfriendly move.”
Budapest made public Trump’s handwritten reply, in which he said he disliked Ukraine’s actions and was “angry” about them, asked that the message be passed to Slovaks, and called Orbán “my great friend.”
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Source: Polskie Radio 24, IAR, PAP