Ukraine will resume pumping oil through the Druzhba pipeline on Wednesday, an industry source said, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said repairs were complete and urged the EU to unblock a 90-billion-euro loan halted by an argument over the pipe.
A lengthy suspension of oil flows through the pipeline following a Russian attack on a pumping facility in Ukraine in January sparked an angry backlash from European Union members Hungary and Slovakia, which remain reliant on Russian oil imports via Druzhba.
They accused Kyiv of deliberately dragging its feet over the repairs, which it denied. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had vetoed the two-year EU loan despite it already being approved by the European Council, outraging many members of the 27-nation bloc.
Orban - an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin - lost a bid for reelection on April 12, opening the way to a de-escalation of the crisis. Zelenskiy - who had previously said the pipeline would restart by end-April - announced on Tuesday that repairs were complete and it was ready to restart.
"Oil pumping is scheduled to begin tomorrow at lunchtime," the industry source said, adding that Hungarian oil firm MOL had made the first transit application.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the first shipment would be divided equally between Hungary and Slovakia, but did not specify the volume of oil to be pumped.
