Ukraine says it will repair the Druzhba pipeline this spring, provided the European Union’s offer of financial support remains valid.

“If the issue of European financing in exchange for oil supply remains relevant, we have announced when we will repair the Druzhba pipeline,” President Zelensky has said.

“Responsibility for supplies will rest with the Europeans. We will repair it, because that’s what has been agreed. I told them we will complete it this spring,” Zelensky told journalists on Friday, as quoted by PAP and cited by Business Insider.

Zelensky’s words indicate that much work has already been done on the pipeline repair, but the damaged tanks cannot be repaired quickly. “This means transit will be possible, but it will carry all the risks, especially since we don’t know whether the Russians will refrain from further attacks,” the Ukrainian president noted.

The Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Hungary via Ukraine, was damaged in late January by a Russian attack. This escalated the dispute between Budapest and Kyiv. Slovakia also demanded that the pipeline be restored.

Despite Ukrainian assurances that the pipeline was being repaired, Viktor Orbán’s government claims that the Ukrainian authorities are deliberately delaying the restoration of transit. In response, Budapest is blocking a €90 billion EU loan to Kyiv, and in March, it suspended gas supplies to Ukraine as well.

Zelensky announced last month that he was accepting technical and financial support from the European Union to restore the Druzhba pipeline as quickly as possible. He noted at the time that repairing the pipeline was dependent on repairing the Brody pumping station, as the damage it had suffered caused a delay in restoring the entire facility.

Zelensky added that Ukraine was considering the construction of underground storage infrastructure as a long-term and more sustainable solution.