Russia struck the Druzhba oil pipeline at Brody, Lviv Oblast, on 27 January, halting crude deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia. Three weeks later, both countries retaliated—against Ukraine.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced a diesel fuel cutoff on 18 February, accusing Zelenskyy of halting oil transit “for political reasons, deliberately jeopardizing Hungary’s energy supply.”
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made the same move, ordering Slovnaft, the country’s sole refinery, to halt exports and redirect output to the domestic market. Slovakia declared a state of oil emergency and released 250,000 tonnes from strategic reserves—enough for a month.
While Fico and Orbán tried to weaponize the disruption, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Poland were already building routes around them.
But the move may expose Budapest and Bratislava’s isolation more than Ukraine’s vulnerability. The Hungarian-Slovak route accounts for just 11% of Ukraine’s diesel imports, NaftoRynok data shows. In 2025, the share was even smaller—9.4%.
Polish and Greek deliveries already cover roughly 80% of Ukraine’s imports. And while Fico and Orbán tried to weaponize the disruption, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Poland were already building routes around them.
Ukraine shrugs it off
Oleksandr Sirenko, NaftoRynok’s director, told the outlet the timing matters: it’s low-demand season, and alternative routes can absorb the shortfall. Suppliers “should have thought in advance about the consequences of a partnership with Russia” rather than failing to build alternative routes by the fourth year of war, he added.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told a press briefing that Hungary and Slovakia’s behavior resembles “drug addicts”.
Serhii Kuyun of the A-95 Consulting Group shared that assessment, noting Ukraine has managed without Hungarian-Slovak diesel before—most recently in autumn 2025, when drone strikes on Druzhba pumping stations disrupted the same route.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told a press briefing that Hungary and Slovakia’s behavior resembles “drug addicts” clinging to the “Russian needle”—contrary to EU policy requiring both countries to diversify away from Russian crude.
Fico’s threat—and its limits
Fico didn’t stop at diesel. He also threatened to cut emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine, claiming January 2026 shipments were double what had been planned for all of 2025.
Slovak intelligence indicates the pipeline “has been repaired and is technically ready.”
But as Euromaidan Press reported, ENTSO-E rules prohibit unilateral suspension of cross-border electricity flows—EU governments simply lack the authority. Ukraine’s import capacity from the EU hit a record 2,450 MW in January, with Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania all part of the interconnected grid.
Fico also called for EU inspectors to visit the Brody pumping station, claiming Slovak intelligence indicates the pipeline “has been repaired and is technically ready.” He provided no evidence. In 2025 alone, Russia struck Ukrainian oil and gas infrastructure 225 times, using 1,399 drones and missiles, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.
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Central Europe is already routing around them
While Hungary and Slovakia focused on punishing Kyiv, the rest of Central Europe was offering alternatives.
Czech Economy Minister Karel Havlíček offered to reverse the flow of the Czech section of the Druzhba pipeline to send oil east to Slovakia. Prague quit Russian Druzhba crude last year after expanding its western route via Italy’s TAL pipeline.
Small volumes could flow immediately; larger quantities would need about a year of infrastructure work. The pipeline Slovakia says Ukraine must repair is one the Czechs no longer need.
No EU country has a technical justification for remaining dependent on Russian oil.
Croatia held firm. Economy Minister Ante Šušnjar rejected the request to transit Russian crude through the Adria pipeline, saying no EU country has a technical justification for remaining dependent on Russian oil. Hungary’s MOL has already signed contracts for seaborne Russian crude arriving mid-March—but whether Croatia will let it through remains unresolved.
A pipeline the EU plans to ban anyway
One day before the diesel cutoff, a European Commission spokeswoman asked Ukraine for a timeline to repair Druzhba—even as the Commission is preparing to ban Russian crude imports by 2027.
Hungary, meanwhile, has increased its reliance on Russian crude from 61% before the full-scale invasion to 92% in 2025—turning a temporary EU exemption into a permanent loophole, according to the Center for the Study of Democracy.
With Hungarian parliamentary elections in April and Orbán building a domestic narrative around “Ukraine as enemy,” the diesel cutoff reads more as electioneering than energy policy. The fuel market has already moved on. The question is whether Budapest and Bratislava will follow.
