Ukraine again attacks the pipeline on which the oil supply of Hungary and Slovakia depends. Hit off a great distance from the border with Russia

Ukrainian drones on Saturday attacked a oil pumping station in the Ciuvaşia region of Russia, on the banks of the Volga river, causing the activity, said regional governor, Oleg Nikolaev, reports Reuters and DPA, quoted by Agerpres.

Nikolaev said that the attack took place near the village of Konar, about 1,200 km from the Ukrainian territory. He said there were no victims, but only “minor damage”. The pumping station is part of the Drujba pipe that transports oil to the west.

Ukraine has intensified drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in recent weeks, aiming at refiners and export terminals to reduce Moscow's export revenues, arouse internal dissatisfaction and push the Kremlin to peace discussions.

The attacks reduced the refining of Russian oil by almost a fifth on certain days and reduced exports from key ports, approaching Moscow from reducing its oil production.

The Drujba pipeline transports oil from Russia to Hungary and Slovakia, as well as from Kazakhstan to Germany. Unlike most countries in the European Union, Slovakia and Hungary remain dependent on Russian energy and receive most of the crude oil through the Drujba pipes that cross Belarus and Ukraine.

Drujba oleoduct, a constant target for Kyiv

The Ukrainian army attacked the Drujba pipe, which caused irritation in Budapest and Bratislava. An attack in the middle of last month on the UNCEA pumping station, a critical part of the Oledoct, stopped the supply of oil to Hungary and Slovakia, who asked the European Commission to press on Kiev to stop these blows.

“It is a new attack on our energy security,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto following the attack. “Without this oleoduce, the safe supply of our countries is simply impossible,” said the Foreign Ministers in Hungary and Slovakia in a common letter to the European Commission.

At a press conference on August 24, President Volodimir Zelenski suggested that the future of the Drujba oil pipeline could depend on the position of Hungary on the accession of Ukraine to the European Union. “I have always supported the friendship between Ukraine and Hungary,” Zelenski said. “The existence of the” Drujba “pipeline depends on the position of Hungary.”

Zelenski's statements aroused a harsh reaction from Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who accused Zelenski of threatening Hungary and sovereignty. “We urge Volodimir Zelenski to cease threats to Hungary and not endanger our energy security,” Szijjarto said in a Facebook post.

Hungarian-Ukrainian relationships have become even tense in recent days, after Kiev has accused Hungary of violating a air space with a drone.

“On the morning of September 26, 2025, the radar means of the Ukraine's armed forces recorded twice, in the airspace of Ukraine, above the territory of the Transcarpathian region, the flight of a drone type at different altitudes,” it is said on the X page of the Ukrainian General Staff.

The mentioned object twice violated the state border of Ukraine from Hungary, he said, publishing maps with the route that the drone had.