EU proposes fact-finding mission to Ukrainian pipeline at center of €90B loan drama

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has proposed sending a fact-finding mission to a contested Soviet-era pipeline in an attempt to resolve a bitter row between Kyiv and Budapest and unlock a major tranche of financial support for Ukraine.

“We have proposed a mission to inspect the pipeline to Ukraine,” Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told reporters Thursday, adding that Ukraine had yet to respond to the request.

For weeks, Hungary has refused to approve a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine over the Druzhba pipeline, which transports oil from eastern Russia to Central Europe and has been offline since early January.

Kyiv has argued the pipeline was damaged in a Russian strike and is difficult to repair, but Budapest has accused Ukraine of deliberately slow-walking the repairs and engineering an energy crisis in Hungary by refusing to turn on the Russian oil tap.

Hungary announced earlier this week that it too had dispatched a fact-finding mission to assess the level of damage to the pipeline. A Kyiv spokesperson dismissed the delegates as “tourists” and said Ukraine would refuse them access.

The Commission previously endorsed a proposal by Hungary and Slovakia — which also received Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline — to inspect the site. 

Ben Munster contributed to this report.