European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, stated that the “Druzhba” oil pipeline was destroyed by Russia, and that there are no energy supply issues in the affected countries.
He made the remarks on Monday in Brussels following a meeting of the EU Energy Council, which was also attended by Ukraine’s Minister of Energy, Denys Shmyhal. According to Jørgensen, the “Druzhba” pipeline was a key topic of discussion during the meeting.
“We should also start by reminding ourselves why there is a problem with this pipeline. It is because Russia destroyed it. Let us not forget that. So the second question, of course, is what this means for EU member states in terms of supply security. Again, it is important to emphasize that there is no supply security problem. Alternative sources exist, and neighboring countries have helped ensure this,” Jørgensen said.
The European Commissioner added that Ukraine received “a very clear signal that we would like to see timelines for when this ‘Druzhba’ will be operational again.” He also stressed that the European Commission intends to propose a ban on Russian oil imports.
“As you know, sanctions are in place, but there are two countries with exemptions, and we will propose to change that,” he said.
It is known that Hungary has accused Ukraine of politically blocking Russian oil supplies by obstructing both the 90 billion euro loan and the 20th package of sanctions. Slovakia has made similar accusations against Kyiv.
