Ukraine has not yet granted EU experts access to Druzhba oil pipeline - media

European experts have not been granted access to the Druzhba oil pipeline for inspection. The group that arrived in Ukraine on March 18 is still in Kyiv.

This is reported by Suspilne with reference to sources familiar with the process.

One of the media interlocutors expressed the opinion that the group is unlikely to be allowed to the site in the near future. It is noted that this made sense before the meeting of the European Council, where there was a chance to unblock a EUR 90 billion loan for Ukraine.

The source added that, according to the preliminary plan, the results of the work of this group should have reassured Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

As we will recall, Prime Minister Orbán in early March appealed to the European Commission with a demand to influence Ukraine to resume oil transit, which was stopped at the end of January due to damage to the infrastructure as a result of russian shelling. The Hungarian Prime Minister also threatened not to support any decision that is beneficial to Ukraine.

The European Union has offered to finance the repair of the Druzhba oil pipeline after the russian attacks, and the restoration of oil transit may take about a month and a half. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the damage to the infrastructure was a result of the russian attacks. The key problem was the shutdown of the Brody pumping station, without which it is impossible to maintain the necessary pressure in the system.

The media also reported on the arrival of a special European Union mission to Ukraine to assess the technical condition of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which was damaged by russian attacks.

Meanwhile, at the summit in Brussels on March 19, EU heads of state planned to force the Hungarian Prime Minister to lift his veto on a critically important loan that was agreed in December last year, but Orbán blocked its implementation last month.