Slovakia began receiving oil via the Druzhba pipeline this morning, Energy Minister Denisa Saková said.
“At present, oil intake is proceeding in line with the agreed plan”, Saková said, as reported by Dennik N.
The pipeline in the direction of Hungary and Slovakia had been out of operation since January this year following a Russian attack on infrastructure located on Ukrainian territory. The day before yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said repairs to the pipeline had been completed. Yesterday, Ukrtransnafta notified Hungarian and Slovak recipients of its readiness to resume transit and began accepting oil from Belarusian territory. This morning, the crude started reaching Slovak consumers.
Against this backdrop, Hungary and Slovakia lifted their blockade of the EU’s 20th sanctions package against Russia and of a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine. Written procedures to formally approve these EU decisions were launched yesterday and are expected to be completed today ahead of an informal summit of EU leaders to be held in Cyprus.
