Druzhba oil pipeline repairs to be completed this spring, Zelensky says

Prefer on Google by Martin Fornusek President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on March 11, 2026 (Tetiana Dzhafarova / AFP via Getty Images) Ukraine expects to complete the repairs of the Druzhba oil pipeline this spring, but the "responsibility for the supply itself will lie with the Europeans," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 9. The Druzhba pipeline , a key network that delivered Russian crude to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukrainian territory, has become the center of a dispute among Kyiv, Budapest, and Bratislava. The pipeline went offline after it was damaged in a Russian strike in western Ukraine in late January, Kyiv said. Bratislava and Budapest accused Ukraine of intentionally withholding transit and vowed to block the EU's 90-billion-euro ($104-billion) loan in retaliation. If the issue of oil transit remains tied to EU funding, Ukraine agrees to restore the Druzhba pipeline, Zelensky said during a briefing with journalists, attended by the Kyiv Independent. "We will complete the repairs because that is the agreement. I told them (the EU) we would finish this spring," Zelensky said. "A lot has already been done there — (Naftogaz CEO Serhii) Koretskyi showed me." The president noted that storage tanks destroyed in the attack cannot be repaired quickly and emphasized the persistent risks of further Russian attacks. Hungary's Kremlin-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orban, has leaned on the dispute in his domestic election campaign, accusing Ukraine of energy blackmail. Zelensky stressed that the elections — scheduled for April 12 — are Hungary's internal matter and not related to Ukraine. Both Budapest and the EU dispatched separate teams of observers to assess the damage, but Kyiv has barred access, citing security reasons .