Zelenskyy: Orban and Fico express no gratitude to Ukraine for restoring Druzhba, other than saying we owe them again

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico have not expressed any gratitude to Ukraine for the restoration of the Druzhba oil pipeline or condolences to their families after the Russian strike. They have only said that Ukraine owes them something again, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated.

"The first strike on this pipeline—after that first strike, we restored everything. There was no appeal to the Russians not to strike the pipeline. We saw this publicly. But there were public appeals to the Ukrainians—after all, this is about the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia. While our people were restoring it, there was another military situation, and people were injured," Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday.

"Did anyone hear from Orbán or Fico, 'Are we very grateful to Ukraine, or are we very sorry for the families, relatives, and loved ones who suffered?' Not a single word, other than that we owe them again," the president noted.

As reported, Fico accepted the Ukrainian president's invitation to hold joint talks with the Slovak side on all aspects of Ukrainian-Slovak cooperation. He asked the Slovak government and Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, in cooperation with the Ukrainian side, to find a suitable date for such a meeting, with preference given to a meeting with the Ukrainian president in an EU member state "that the Ukrainian president frequently visits."

Zelenskyy, for his part, stated that it would be wrong to hold a meeting with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in another country, since the Druzhba oil pipeline is located in Ukraine.