Podoliak: Ukraine will stop the transit of Russian oil through Druzhba pipeline

Oil pipeline. Illustrative photo from Getty imagines

From January 2025, Ukraine will stop the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba oil pipeline through its territory.

This was announced by the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, in an interview with News.Live.

Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Ukraine has no intention of extending the gas transit agreement with Russia, which expires at the end of 2024.

Mykhailo Podolyak indicates that there were certain contracted volumes that expire on January 1, 2025. But if the cranes of Europe need Kazakh or Azerbaijani gas, then Ukraine is ready to transport it.

He adds that, in addition to gas, the Druzhba oil pipeline will also stop working on January 1, 2025.

According to him, some European countries — Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary — received Russian oil through this pipeline. But according to the EU resolution, these countries should diversify their oil supply and stop transit through Ukraine.

It was previously reported that Russia and Ukraine intend to maintain the pipeline flow of gas to Europe, even despite military operations in the Kursk region near the transit point in Sudzha.