Hungary considers cutting power, gas exports to Ukraine in Russian oil row

By Krisztina Than
February 19, 20263:24 AM PSTUpdated 13 hours ago

BUDAPEST, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Hungary is considering cutting off power and gas exports to Ukraine unless Kyiv resumes Russian oil shipments to the country via the Druzhba pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff told a briefing on Thursday.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have the only remaining refineries in the European Union using Russian oil through Druzhba, have been trying to secure supply since flows were halted on January 27 after what Ukraine said was a Russian drone attack that damaged pipeline infrastructure.

The refineries plan to start tapping state oil reserves, with the Slovak government on Wednesday approving a loan of 250,000 tons.
Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said the Hungarian government had also freed up strategic oil reserves following a request from refiner MOL (MOLB.BU), opens new tab.

ACCUSATIONS FLY

Hungary and Slovakia have accused Ukraine of delaying a restart to flows for political reasons, and on Wednesday they announced a halt in diesel exports to Ukraine.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been a vocal opponent of Ukraine's bid to join the European Union, and Hungary and Slovakia have both maintained good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin through almost four years of war in Ukraine.


"We are also considering the option of stopping power and gas shipments towards Ukraine," Gulyas said, adding that Budapest was coordinating its steps with Slovakia, unless Ukraine resumes crude delivery via Druzhba.
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday also raised the possibility of halting emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine.
"There will be further countermeasures if the Ukrainian government does not change its decision and continues to halt the Druzhba pipeline with false arguments," Gulyas said.
Reuters has requested comments from the Ukrainian foreign ministry and the state oil and gas company.
Hungary and Slovakia have accounted for 68% of Ukraine's imported power this month, according to Kyiv-based consultancy ExPro. Hungary also accounts for about a third of Ukraine's current gas imports, according to the country's gas transit operator.

An alliance is like a chain. It is not made stronger by adding weak links to it. A great power like the United States gains no advantage and it loses prestige by offering, indeed peddling, its alliances to all and sundry. An alliance should be hard diplomatic currency, valuable and hard to get, and not inflationary paper from the mimeograph machine in the State Department.
Walter Lippmann

“On Friday, Trump said Zelensky would miss an opportunity if he doesn't 'get moving', and claimed Russia was willing to end the war through a peace deal.'Russia wants to *make a deal, and Zelensky's going *to have to get ⁠moving. Otherwise, he's ⁠going to miss a great opportunity. He has *to move,' he said.

Between February 17 and 18, a new round of peace negotiations involving Ukraine will be conducted by the US and Russia in Geneva.

The Kremlin has confirmed Vladimir Medinsky, a presidential aide to Vladimir Putin, will lead the Russians.

More recently, Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Moscow of deliberately freezing Ukraine's population with its attacks on the energy grid.

'There is not a single power plant left in Ukraine that has not been damaged by Russian attacks,' Zelensky said. 'Not one.'

Kyiv had begun producing 155 mm shells — a NATO standard size for howitzers, as opposed to the Soviet 152 mm. But the problem is simple, says Roman “Cat” Kotliarov, an artillerist in the Ukrainian military who recently relocated from Donbas to man a 122 mm mortar in northern Kharkiv Oblast, near the Russian border. “Those shells are no good,” referring to Ukrainian-made mortar shells.

“If you're talking about Ukrainian mortar shells, which are produced in Ukraine, they’re very low quality. I don't like to work with them,” Kotliarov told the Kyiv Independent.



Another soldier, a captain by the call sign of “Artem” who recently rebased after two and a half years in frontline artillery to a desk job in Kyiv, is similarly critical of Ukraine’s local production of the mortars themselves.

“The only Ukrainian-made mortar I used was made in Sumy. In 1942,” he told the Kyiv Independent. “It weighed maybe 800 kilograms.” Contrary to government announcements, the situation, he says, has not improved.

The struggle with shells is just one striking case study in the broader reality of Ukrainian manufacturing of traditional weapons.

As for armored vehicles and tanks, local production is too often just refurbishment of Soviet-era equipment. And indeed Ukrainian local war vehicle makers like Ukrainian Armor have converted their factories to produce shells.

A representative for the Strategic Industries Ministry declined to comment, other than to describe the shell industry as “sensitive.” Kotliarov was more forthcoming.

“Without (U.S.) assistance, we cannot survive,” said Kotliarov.