Friendship in flames. Ukrainian drones hit the largest node on Russian territory

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha told his Hungarian minister that his country should complain to Russia. However, Szijjártó reminded him that Hungary sends electricity to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military has confirmed that it carried out an attack on a gas station in Russia's Tambov region, which led to the interruption of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia, Sky News reported. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on the Telegram network that Ukrainian forces, including elements of unmanned systems, attacked the Nikolskoye gas station in the Tambov region on Monday night, which is involved in supplying the Russian occupation forces in Ukraine. As a result of the attack, a fire broke out in the facility, which caused a complete stoppage of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.

The Hungarian minister did not specify the time or location of the attack. He said he had spoken to Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin, who told him that experts were working to restore the transformer station. However, it is not clear when supplies will be restored, Szijjártó added, according to the Russian minister.

“Hungary can now complain to Moscow, not Kiev,” Sybiha wrote on the X network, without confirming or denying the attack. “It is Russia, not Ukraine, that started this war and refuses to end it. Hungary has been told for years that Moscow is an unreliable partner. Despite this, Hungary has made every effort to maintain its dependence on Russia,” the Ukrainian minister said.

Szijjártó responded to Sybih's post on Facebook on Monday afternoon, saying that his Ukrainian colleague had missed certain facts."The first fact: Russia has been transporting oil to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline for decades. It is in Hungary's interest. The second fact: Ukraine is attacking this pipeline and oil supplies are regularly blocked as a result of Ukrainian attacks. This is contrary to Hungary's interests," he added.

Szijjártó added that he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, and therefore Hungary's interests come first for him.

The Ministry of Economy is recording the suspension of Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline and expects the Russian side to eliminate the malfunction in the coming days. The security of supply to the region is not threatened by this, Economy Minister Denisa Saková (Hlas-SD) said on Monday.

"Of course, we are intensively monitoring the situation together with our partners. According to our information, we are working to eliminate the technical malfunction," said Saková. She explained that the reason is damage to the transformer station and that this is the second damage to the Druzhba oil pipeline infrastructure in Russia in the last seven days.

The ministry recalled that Slovakia is prepared for possible longer-term outages - it has strategic reserves of oil and oil products. In addition, according to Saková, the ministry is taking steps to diversify raw material supplies, including the development of alternative routes and the use of storage facilities.

Ukraine has been fighting a Russian military invasion for more than three years. The government in Budapest says it has maintained pragmatic relations with Moscow since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But that has caused tensions with some European Union allies who want to take a tougher stance on Russia.

Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline through Belarus and Ukraine to refineries in Hungary and Slovakia."Transpetrol has registered an interruption in oil supplies to Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline," the company was quoted as saying by Reuters."Our company has no further information on the reason for the interruption, which is outside the territory of the Slovak Republic. Oil transportation through Slovak territory is secured and is taking place in accordance with the pumping plan," the company added.

Szijjártó said last year that Druzhba would remain Hungary's main oil import route. Today, the Hungarian minister also accused Kiev of trying to drag Budapest into the war in Ukraine by attacking Hungary's energy security.

Today's suspension of oil supplies to Hungary follows a temporary halt last week, Reuters reported. The Ukrainian military said on August 13 that its drones had hit an oil pumping station in the western Russian city of Briansk.

Former Economy Minister Karel Hirman (Democrats) reported last week about the interruption of oil supplies to Slovakia. He cited the bombing of a key Druzhba gas station in Unech in the Bryansk region of Russia as the main reason, pointing to satellite images that confirmed the damage. According to him, the interruption of supplies is not caused by planned technical reasons, but directly by an attack on Russian territory, he wrote today in a status on the social network.

Ukraine last summer stopped the transit of oil from the Russian company Lukoil to Hungary and Slovakia. The Ukrainians put the company on a sanctions list, justifying why they could not allow the transit. Hungary at the time called Ukraine's action blackmail.