Paris Soir - EU to help reopen blocked oil pipeline in Ukraine

"The EU has offered Ukraine technical support and funding. The Ukrainians have welcomed and accepted this offer," von der Leyen said in a statement, published alongside an exchange of letters with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"European experts are available immediately," she said.

Landlocked Hungary and Slovakia have accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying reopening the Druzhba pipeline, which Kyiv says was damaged by Russian strikes in January.

European Union member Hungary has in turn blocked a vital 90-billion-euro ($104-billion) loan to Ukraine as well as a fresh round of sanctions on Russia.

Tensions have ratcheted up between Kyiv and Budapest over the pipeline, with Zelensky and Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban trading barbs.

In a letter to Zelensky, von der Leyen and European Council head Antonio Costa voiced hope a "rapid repair of the pipeline" would now allow the bloc to move forward "in a timely manner" with both the EU loan and sanctions package.

The EU released a letter from Zelensky in which he accepted the "necessary technical support and funding to be able to conclude the repair work" on the pipeline, and invited the chief of Ukraine's state oil and gas firm Naftogaz to "take this forward" with the EU.

Ukraine had initially resisted the offer of EU help -- with Zelensky calling it "blackmail" to link it to the issue of support for Ukraine's war effort.

The war in the Middle East has brought the issue of oil deliveries into sharp focus, with countries worldwide looking for ways to release more supplies onto the market to ease prices.

Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in the EU, has urged the 27-nation bloc to suspend sanctions on Russian oil and gas to counter rising prices.

The pipeline dispute also came as the nationalist Hungarian leader ramped up political attacks on Ukraine ahead of closely fought elections on April 12.

B.Bernard--PS