RUSSIA - Russian crude oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline were halted on Monday, officials in Hungary and Slovakia said,...
with Budapest blaming a Ukrainian attack on a part of the network. Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure, a key conduit for generating money for Kremlin's war efforts, with oil and gas sales accounting for a quarter of Russia's state total budget proceeds. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha neither confirmed nor denied the account of the latest attack, but wrote on X that Hungary "can now send complaints" to Moscow, not Kyiv. The oil supply disruptions have happened as U.S. President Donald Trump is due to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders in Washington later on Monday to press Kyiv into accepting a peace deal with Russia. Unlike most other EU countries, Hungary has kept up its reliance on Russian energy since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. It imports most of its crude via the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Belarus and Ukraine to Hungary and also Slovakia. Oil flows via the Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline were also briefly suspended in March following a Ukrainian attack on a metering station. Szijjarto wrote on Facebook that he had talked to Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin who told him that experts were working to restore the transformer station he says was hit in the latest attack, but it was unclear when deliveries would resume. (Reuters)