Oil pipeline
Southern branch: Belarus through Ukraine to Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Supplies Slovnaft (Bratislava), MOL (Százhalombatta), and Litvinov refineries.
Updated April 23, 2026 · View on the live map →
Southern branch: Belarus through Ukraine to Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Supplies Slovnaft (Bratislava), MOL (Százhalombatta), and Litvinov refineries. Partially subject to EU sanctions waivers for landlocked countries.
Landlocked Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic received EU sanctions exemptions specifically because their refineries cannot be economically supplied by any other route. Hungary's Orbán government has used this energy dependency as justification for maintaining closer ties with Moscow than other EU members. Slovakia's Slovnaft refinery (MOL-owned) is a strategic asset that constrains Bratislava's foreign policy options. The southern branch is a case study in how geography creates divergent threat perceptions within an alliance.
Oil flows through the southern Druzhba leg resumed on 23 April after a halt since January that Kyiv attributed to Russian strike damage near Brody; Slovakia's economy ministry confirmed receipt. Hungary then lifted its veto on a €90bn EU loan to Ukraine.
Loadings at Russia's two largest Baltic oil ports were suspended after repeated drone strikes started fires; Reuters estimated ~40% of Russian oil export capacity (~2 mb/d) was offline, with at least 50 tankers waiting. Novorossiysk was also behind schedule after earlier attacks. Druzhba exports to Hungary and Slovakia had been halted since January.