Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could not hold back a chuckle during a press conference after a journalist asked about bombing a Russian Druzhba pipeline that supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
Hungary and Slovakia see the pipeline as critical for their energy supply and the Ukrainian attacks have caused outrage there.
On August 24, when a journalist queried the Ukrainian President about the attack, he grinned widely and started chuckling, before composing himself.
Zelensky then said: “We have always supported friendship between Ukraine and Hungary and now the existence of friendship depends on Hungary’s position.”
🤭 Zelensky, barely holding back laughter, commented on the strikes on the “Druzhba” oil pipeline
“We have always supported friendship between Ukraine and Hungary. Now the existence of this friendship depends on Hungary’s position”🇭🇺
This was his reply to the question of… pic.twitter.com/5Ti3WhRVMA
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 24, 2025
Ukraine has attacked Druzhba pumping stations in Russia’s Bryansk region twice in the past two weeks, first on August 13 and then on August 21. It also hit a station in Nikolskoye.
These caused a halt to pipeline operations and oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia were stopped several times, much to the countries’ annoyance.
Balázs Németh, the spokesperson of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, said on August 25 that Ukraine’s attacks were a form of “blackmail” and were being used as “leverage” to spur Hungary to change its stance on Ukrainian accession to the European Union.
“Of course, Brussels remains silent. Anyone with eyes can see that Zelensky and his friends in Brussels have failed the war. Ukraine is in ruins, more than a million (!) people have died, about 20 percent of the country’s territory is in Russian hands, at least half of the population has fled, and European Union money has been burned in three and a half years,” he added on social media.
“No people, no weapons, no money to turn the tide of the war.”
Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó reacted on August 22 on Facebook to the second attack.
“This is yet another attack on our country’s energy security, another attempt to drag us into the war. It won’t work! We will continue to support efforts to achieve peace and to defend our national interests with all our strength,” he said.
He also shared a letter he sent to the EU, demanding it act regarding Ukraine’s attacks.
Brussels Signal reached out to the European Commission for comment but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Together with Slovak FM Juraj Blanár, we sent a letter to HRVP @kajakallas and Energy Commissioner @DanJoergensen demanding that the @EU_Commission finally act against Ukraine’s repeated attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline.
In just a few weeks, this vital pipeline has been… pic.twitter.com/otxrxdzO6U
— Péter Szijjártó (@FM_Szijjarto) August 22, 2025
Slovak foreign Minister Juraj Blanár noted the strikes threatened Slovakia’s national interests while bringing little benefit to Ukraine, Ukrainian news outlet Kyiv Post reported.
“This infrastructure is very important for us,” he said told JOJ TV’s Politika 24 programme on August 24. “Especially when we see that Ukraine itself is harming its own interests and risks being left without enough fuel on its territory.”
Blanár noted that around 10 per cent of Ukraine’s monthly diesel needs came from Slovakian oil refining company Slovnaft.
He also recalled that the EU had declared energy infrastructure “untouchable” in January and urged all parties to respect that.
“Only a peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine can stop mutual attacks on energy infrastructure,” Blanár said. “This includes strikes from Ukraine on Russian facilities and vice versa.”
Unlike most other EU member states, Hungary has continued to rely heavily on Russian energy since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The bulk of Hungary’s crude oil arrives via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which passes through Belarus and Ukraine.
In March, flows were briefly halted after a Ukrainian strike on a separate metering station.
According to Reuters, Russia supplied Hungary with around 95,000 barrels of oil per day through the pipeline last year.
