Zelensky says Russian oil pipeline to Hungary will reopen by end of April

With a key Russian oil route still crippled by wartime strikes, Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine expects to restore enough of the damaged pipeline to resume operations to Hungary and Slovakia before April is out.

“As for the oil pipeline, as we promised, it will be repaired by the end of April – not completely, but enough for it to function,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in Berlin.

The pipeline’s condition had become a flashpoint in Mr Zelensky’s fraught relationship with Hungary’s outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as the Ukrainian leader presses all EU members to halt purchases of Russian energy.

Mr Orban – who maintained good ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite the invasion of Ukraine – suffered a painful election defeat on Sunday, bringing an end to his 16-year rule.

Peter Magyar (L) said Viktor Orbán, has conceded defeat in the Hungarian election

Throughout the campaign, Mr Orban put Ukraine at the heart of his message, casting Kyiv as “hostile” to Hungary.

Yet his successor, Mr Magyar, while vowing to usher in a new chapter in Hungarian politics, has also rejected sending EU military assistance to Ukraine and opposes giving Kyiv a fast-track path into the 27-nation bloc.

Mr Zelensky called for talks with Mr Magyar, whom he congratulated on Sunday evening hours after polls closed.

“We are ready for a meeting. Whenever the new prime minister is ready,” Mr Zelensky said in a press conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Merz and Zelensky sign drone and defence cooperation accords

Germany and ⁠Ukraine have signed defence cooperation agreements that include a drone production deal Mr Zelensky said could grow into one of the biggest arrangements of its kind in Europe.

The agreements, signed in Berlin by Mr Zelensky and Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov during the Ukrainian president’s visit, highlight the rising profile of Ukraine’s defence sector after more than four years of war defined by fast-moving advances in drone warfare.

“No defence industry has become more innovative than Ukraine’s,” Mr Merz told a news conference in Berlin.

“Through our support, ‌we are strengthening both German and ⁠European defence capabilities and our industrial base.”

Friedrich Merz (R) and Volodymyr Zelensky (L) at a news conference in Berlin

Germany is Europe’s largest provider of military aid to Kyiv. It has delivered around €55 billion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and has set aside €1.5bn in the current budget.

A large share of that backing has gone toward financing purchases of US weapons. Germany’s defence ministry said it would cover the cost of hundreds of Patriot air defence missiles from US defence group Raytheon, as well as launchers for IRIS-T air defence ⁠systems produced by Germany’s Diehl Defence.

Mr Zelensky said officials on both sides were still working through ‌the scale and finer points of the drone deal, which expands on existing partnerships between ⁠German and ‌Ukrainian companies.

“Germany is a major partner of ours, so I am confident that we will have one of the largest – indeed the largest – agreements of this kind at least in Europe,” he said.

Germany’s defence ministry said the project ⁠would establish a joint venture to provide thousands of drones to the Ukrainian military. Berlin also agreed to ⁠invest several hundred million euros to finance so-called deep strike capabilities.

US efforts to negotiate an end to the war have stalled since the start of the war with Iran, but Mr Merz said Europe’s involvement in any agreement with Moscow was “indispensable”.

He said a meeting of national security advisers was being organised and that the US would be invited to participate.