EU's request on Druzhba pipeline meets rejection from Ukraine, FT reports
Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a meeting with EU leaders (president.gov.ua)
The European Union is pressuring Ukraine to gain access to the section of the Druzhba oil pipeline damaged by a Russian strike, the Financial Times reports.
Read also: EU finds alternative to Druzhba: How Croatia could help overcome Orban’s veto
The unnamed diplomats and EU officials told the outlet that some pro-Western EU governments and the European Commission had requested that Ukraine allow experts to inspect the Druzhba pipeline.
FT sources specified that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, during their visit to Kyiv on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, asked Ukrainian leadership to grant access to the Druzhba pipeline to assess the damage. However, they were reportedly refused.
One senior EU diplomat said that Kyiv scored an "own goal" by giving Hungary a reason to block a loan.
"We cannot say if there is damage or not. There are very easy ways to document it and show they are working hard to repair it. They haven’t done it," an unnamed diplomat said.
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official told journalists that European colleagues had been provided with evidence of significant damage to the Druzhba pipeline.
Details from Naftogaz
Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi told the Financial Times that a Russian strike caused a fire in a 75,000-cubic-meter oil tank, which burned for ten days.
"Numerous pieces of equipment, power cables, transformers, and a leak detection system responsible for pipeline sealing were damaged. The air attack caused a fire in the biggest oil reservoir in Europe, with a diameter the size of a football field," he added.
According to Koretskyi, "a full assessment takes time and is expected soon."
Strike on the Druzhba pipeline
Russia struck the Druzhba pipeline at the end of January. The attack halted the transit of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
Instead of criticizing Moscow for the strike on Druzhba, Budapest and Bratislava blamed Ukraine for not restoring the pipeline for political reasons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that during repair work, Russian attacks on the repair crews could occur again. He added that human life is too high a price to pay for repairing a pipeline.
