On March 27, European media reported that a technical delegation of the EU was sent to Ukraine to assess the damage of the Druzhba oil pipeline and is still staying in Kiev. More than a week has passed since arriving in the capital, this group of experts is still waiting for local authorities to grant access to the damaged infrastructure area.
The working group, including representatives from many EU member states and the European Commission (EC), arrived in Ukraine on March 18. Their core goal is to assess the actual extent of damage and estimate the workload needed to restore this vital energy route.
Previously, through high-level diplomatic exchanges on March 17, Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky affirmed that he was ready to receive technical and financial support from the EU. This made European officials believe that the inspection process would go smoothly. However, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs later clarified that the right to decide on licensing access to strategic infrastructure is entirely under the strict authority of national security agencies.
The incident originated on January 27, when an airstrike targeting key infrastructure in the town of Brody in the Lviv region damaged the Druzhba pipeline. The incident caused a major fire and forced state-owned energy company Naftogaz to immediately stop the oil pumping process. The obvious consequence is that crude oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia have been completely cut off since then.
This stagnation has sparked a fierce diplomatic confrontation. Hungary and Slovakia, two countries heavily dependent on supply through the Druzhba pipeline, have reacted strongly by suspending diesel fuel exports to Ukraine. Even Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned that he would cut off electricity supplies to Kiev if the black gold flow was not soon restored.
Responding to these pressures, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha affirmed that the root cause of the disruption was an external attack, and criticized Budapest for applying double standards when refusing to condemn the airstrike. Kiev also rejected accusations of deliberately delaying repairs, emphasizing that any decision to restore operations must put security risks first.
In an effort to resolve the deadlock, the European Commission declared its support for resuming the operation of the pipeline but respected Ukraine's final decision-making power. For its part, Kiev has proactively proposed using the Odessa-Brody pipeline as a temporary alternative solution to maintain supply to the European market without having to depend on infrastructure that is at risk.
