Ukraine accepts EU help to restart Druzhba oil flows

BRUSSELS — Ukraine has accepted EU technical and financial support to repair the damaged Druzhba oil pipeline, in a bid to restore oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia.

The agreement comes two days before EU leaders meet in Brussels and could help ease tensions that prompted Hungary to block a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine.

“The EU has offered Ukraine technical support and funding,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa said in a joint statement. “The Ukrainians have welcomed and accepted this offer. European experts are available immediately.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Kyiv’s backing for the plan, writing in a letter to EU leaders that he “welcome[s] and accept[s]” the EU’s offer of “necessary technical support and funding” to complete repairs and explore longer-term solutions.

The push follows strikes on the pipeline in January that interrupted oil flows, von der Leyen and Costa said, adding they have held “intense discussions” with member states and Ukraine to “repair and restore the flow of oil.”

“Our priority is to ensure energy security for all European citizens,” they said, with the Commission also working on “alternative routes for the transit of non-Russian crude oil” to Central and Eastern Europe.

It’s the first time Kyiv has allowed the pipeline to be inspected since it was damaged in a Russian strike in January. Budapest, which depends on the conduit for Russian oil supplies , has accused Ukraine of slow-walking the repairs, and has repeatedly called on the Commission to send technicians to assess the level of damage.

The issue snowballed into a broader diplomatic spat after Budapest and Slovakia threatened to block €90 billion worth of aid to Ukraine if it doesn’t repair it quickly.

Ukraine has insisted that the repairs are underway and that the site remains too dangerous for an inspection. It blocked a previous attempt to visit the pipeline by Hungary, dismissing its delegates as “tourists.” Zelenskyy has also previously admitted that he would rather not fix the pipeline given doing so facilitates Russian oil exports.

The move comes as tensions over energy supplies and support for Ukraine build ahead of the next European Council.