Ukraine drone strike disrupts Druzhba oil flow to Hungary, Slovakia

A fresh Ukrainian drone strike on Russian energy infrastructure has disrupted crude oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia, prompting swift condemnation from Budapest and raising questions about regional energy security as European countries recalibrate their reliance on Russian supplies. Ukrainian officials confirmed the strike targeted facilities on Russian territory, with a sequence of disruptions extending to the Nikolskoye pumping station in the Tambov region after an earlier attack on the Unecha facility in Bryansk.

Hungary and Slovakia reported that flows of Russian crude via the Druzhba corridor, a conduit that runs through Belarus and Ukraine to Central Europe, were halted or interrupted early this week. Hungary’s government identified the latest strike as the direct cause of the disruption, and its officials stressed that the region’s energy safety remains a shared concern. In a post on social media, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó described the strike as outrageous and unacceptable, linking it to Hungary’s own energy security and urging Kyiv to refrain from actions that jeopardize it. He later noted that the line’s operation was...