A group of European Union (EU) experts has already arrived in Ukraine, whose task is to evaluate the current state of the Druzhba pipeline. This was confirmed by the CEO of the Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftohaz Serhiy Korecky on the social network X on Wednesday evening, TASR reports.
“Together with the deputy EU ambassador Gediminas Navickas, we met with the technical working group. In the presence of the management of Ukrtransnafta, we provided our partners with detailed information about the consequences of the Russian attack on the infrastructure of the Druzhba pipeline.” said Koreckyj.
However, the director of Naftogaz did not provide further details about the experts present, or if and when they should arrive in the city of Brody in western Ukraine, where, according to Ukraine, the infrastructure was damaged. He appreciated only the EU’s offer, which should help Naftogaz and its subsidiary Ukrtransnafta to restore the operation of the gas pipeline “in accordance with the highest European technical and security standards and to prevent further terrorist attacks”.
Shortly before Korecki’s announcement, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tychy said on Wednesday that Ukraine does not yet have any information about this EU expert mission.
According to Kyiv, Russian attacks on the oil pipeline facility in the city of Brody in the Lviv region on January 27 led to the interruption of supplies through the Druzhba pipeline. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accuse Ukraine of delaying the restoration of its operation and of political blackmail. The EU therefore proposed sending a mission to inspect the Druzhba pipeline.
According to Ukraine, information appeared in the media on Tuesday that on March 18, independent experts from European countries will inspect the Druzhba pipeline and check the section damaged by Russia. The representatives of Hungary and Slovakia were not supposed to be among the experts, which the heads of diplomacy of both countries complained about. Logistically, this mission is allegedly provided by the official representation of the EU in Ukraine.
