According to regional media on February 21, the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Brussels sent an important letter to the European Commission (EC) on February 20. The main content is to present a completely new oil transit plan, aimed at solving the urgent supply shortage for Hungary and Slovakia.
The core plan proposes that European Union (EU) member states switch to exploiting the Odessa Brody pipeline, instead of relying on the traditional Druzhba oil pipeline.
This proposal emphasizes the need to maximize the existing oil and gas infrastructure system of Kiev to maintain sustainable energy security for neighboring countries.
Regarding logistics organization, the new transshipment route can be operated through 2 main scenarios. The EU bloc can directly use the existing domestic pipeline network or combine it with sea transport.
Accordingly, crude oil will be transported by ship, unloaded at bustling ports in the Black Sea, and then pumped directly into the Odessa Brody system to be delivered directly to the territories of EU member states.
This latest diplomatic move appeared right in the eye of the tense storm. Previously, on February 13, many industry sources confirmed that the pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta had ordered a ban on crude oil supplies to Slovakia and Hungary.
Although the company announced that it had completely overcome the technical incident at the Brody pumping station from February 6, the actual oil pumping process was still stalled for unknown reasons.
The blockade of energy flow immediately sparked a fierce diplomatic confrontation. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto publicly accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of deliberately blockading supplies.
This official said that this is a politically calculated move aimed at creating pressure and causing difficulties for the Hungarian government right before the decisive parliamentary elections.
The chain reaction from the incident quickly led to economic retaliation. The EU executive branch confirmed on February 19 that both Hungary and Slovakia had suspended all diesel fuel exports to Kiev.
The rift peaked on February 20 when the Budapest government officially vetoed the huge financial aid package worth 90 billion euros (about 106.03 billion USD) that the EU planned to allocate to Kiev.
