(March 17): Ukraine will allow European Union experts into the country to help restore Russian oil flows via the Druzhba pipeline, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, signalling a potential easing of tensions that put key financial aid for his country in jeopardy.
The Ukrainian leader accepted an “offer of the necessary technical support and funding to be able to conclude the repair work", he said in a letter to EU Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen published on Tuesday.
The decision follows weeks of tensions between Kyiv and EU member states Hungary and Slovakia, which said they’d veto a key package of €90 billion in loans for the war-ravaged country until the flows are restored. They also accused Ukraine of dragging its feet in fixing the pipeline, which was damaged in a Russian drone strike in January. Zelenskiy has criticised Hungary’s stance as “blackmail”.
The EU has engaged in intense discussions with its member states and Ukraine at all levels to restore the flows, von der Leyen said in a post on X Tuesday. European experts are available to start their work in Ukraine immediately, she said.
The flows through the Druzhba pipeline, which runs from Russia across western Ukraine and is a key supply route for landlocked Hungary and Slovakia, have historically averaged some 200,000 barrels a day in winter.
Although Druzhba has been hit more than 20 times during Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, the severity of the latest damage means restoration needs more time, Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv on Saturday.
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Repairs on the pipeline have begun and restoring flows could take about a month, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, Bloomberg earlier reported.
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