Hungary and Slovakia want joint team to inspect Druzhba pipeline damage in Ukraine

BUDAPEST, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Hungary and Slovakia agreed on Friday to set up a joint committee to investigate damage to the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine, calling on Kyiv to grant it access and restart Russian oil flows.

Supplies via Druzhba to Hungary and Slovakia - the only European Union countries still importing Russian oil - were halted on January 27, forcing both to seek alternative sources and draw on state reserves.

Ukraine, which wants Europe to stop buying Russian fuel, says the pipeline was damaged by a Russian drone strike and it is making repairs as fast as it can.

But Hungary and Slovakia blame Kyiv and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the prolonged outage, in one of the biggest disputes between the neighbours since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a Facebook video on Friday that Kyiv had stopped oil flows for political reasons, adding that he and Slovak counterpart Robert Fico had agreed to create an "investigative committee to ascertain the state" of the pipeline.

"I call on President Zelenskiy to grant access to the committee, and to provide the conditions necessary for its work," Orban said.

Ukraine's foreign ministry did not immediately comment.

FICO TO SPEAK WITH ZELENSKIY

While the outage has not threatened domestic supply, Hungary and Slovakia have had to seek alternative sources and release crude from strategic reserves.

Hungarian oil company MOL, which also operates Slovakia's Slovnaft refinery, has ordered tankers carrying Saudi, Norwegian, Kazakh, Libyan and Russian oil.

Fico, speaking at a separate news conference in Slovakia, said the countries would propose the committee to the European Commission, adding that he feared Brussels was prioritising Ukraine's interests over those of EU members Slovakia and Hungary.

"We have a right to this oil," Fico said.

Hungary and Slovakia have long clashed with Kyiv over Russian energy supplies transiting Ukrainian territory and have opposed EU military aid for Ukraine.

The Commission said earlier this week that Ukraine was ready to accelerate repairs to Druzhba. However, Zelenskiy said repairs could not be completed quickly.

Fico - who has warned of further counter-measures after Slovakia stopped emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine - was due to speak with Zelenskiy on Friday.

Orban, who faces an April election and has made the war a central campaign theme, on Thursday asked the European Council for a "fact‑finding mission" to assess the damage, suggesting it could help unblock new EU funding for Ukraine.