Szijjártó: Hungary and Slovakia will resist Ukrainian blackmail to the very end

(Patria) - Hungary and Slovakia will resist Ukrainian blackmail to the very end, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced yesterday on his Facebook page.

According to the Ministry's statement, Szijjártó said in his post that Ukraine is carrying out "political blackmail" against Hungary and Slovakia and that the leadership in Kyiv is lying that the transport of crude oil cannot be restarted due to damage to the Druzhba pipeline.

"The truth, however, is that there are no problems with the pipeline. The Ukrainians want to cause us a crisis in oil supply. But we weren't born yesterday.

We will defend ourselves together with the Slovak government. We have made the necessary decisions to release reserves, and MOL has ordered the necessary quantities by sea.

We confirmed that we will stand by each other until the very end, and I also assured Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Saková that as long as the Ukrainians are stalling us, we will block every decision in Brussels that would benefit Ukrainian interests," Szijjártó stated.

Ukraine has not issued an official statement on the resumption of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, a source from the Ukrainian energy sector told Reuters, after Slovakia said Kyiv had postponed the date for restoring supply to February 26.

- There was no such official position from the Ukrainian side - said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.

Slovakia announced the shutdown of the Druzhba pipeline on February 13, long after supplies of Russian oil through Slovakia and Hungary were cut off last month, when Kyiv announced that a Russian drone had hit pipeline equipment in western Ukraine.

Slovakia initially expected oil flow to resume shortly after the public announcement. Together with Hungary, it blamed Ukraine for the prolonged shutdown.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that the EU is asking Ukraine to speed up repairs.

She thanked Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for his efforts to secure and expand oil transport via Serbia to Hungary and Slovakia through the Adriatic pipeline, reports dpa agency.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considers the repair of the Druzhba pipeline, key for the supply of Russian oil, unnecessary despite pressure from Hungary and Slovakia.

- But why? For restoration, for what? For the loss of people. I think this is a very high price. The Russian military deliberately targets repair crews - Zelensky said yesterday at a joint press conference with Von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa in Kyiv.

He advised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to turn to Moscow.

- Russia has destroyed these pipelines several times. But it cannot be that, for example, Russia destroys, and Ukraine rebuilds - Zelensky said, telling Orbán that he should ask the Kremlin for an energy truce.

Zelensky also said that Russian oil, which serves to finance Moscow's war against his country, has no place on the European market.

On Monday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the Slovak electricity grid operator will reject Ukrainian requests for emergency electricity supply until oil flow through the pipeline resumes.

Ukraine has proposed alternative transit routes for shipping oil to Europe while pipeline repair work is ongoing.

It assessed that the threats to electricity supply are blackmail, but that Slovakia's halt of emergency deliveries will not affect its power system.