Photo: The Office of the President of Ukraine
On every occasion — including the most recent one — Ukraine agreed to restore the pipeline.
President of the European Council António Costa positively assessed Ukraine’s pledge to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline within six weeks (around a month and a half). Speaking at a press conference during the EU leaders’ summit, he recalled that the European Commission had offered Ukraine technical and financial assistance to rebuild the facility after it was hit by a Russian missile.
“We welcome President Zelenskyy’s public commitment to restore this pipeline within the next six weeks,” Costa said. “However, it should be noted that setting conditions that neither the EU nor its member states can guarantee is not an act of good faith, as only Russia decides whether it will attempt to destroy the infrastructure again.”
According to him, Russia has attacked the pipeline 23 times. Each time, Ukraine agreed to restore Druzhba again.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that restoring oil transit through the pipeline would take about a month and a half, provided there are no further attacks. He also emphasized that the damage is significant.
On March 19, EU experts arrived in Ukraine to assess the situation and met with Naftogaz CEO Serhii Koretskyi. They were briefed on the consequences of the attack, presented with a reconstruction plan, and informed about the next steps. The experts’ own assessments have not yet been made public.
