By Jan Lopatka
April 23 (Reuters) - Slovakia and Hungary said they began receiving crude oil through the Druzhba pipeline on Thursday after a months-long outage that had blocked European Union aid to Ukraine.
The Druzhba pipeline became one of the most politically charged pieces of infrastructure in Europe after the halt in Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia in January which Ukraine blamed on a Russian air strike.
Oil through the Ukrainian section of the pipeline started flowing on Wednesday, prompting Hungary to lift its veto on a 90 billion euro ($105.4 billion) EU loan urgently needed by Ukraine.
Slovakia confirmed early on Thursday that oil had reached it and Hungary's oil group MOL also confirmed that it had begun receiving crude oil through the pipeline.
"Crude oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline system have thus resumed to Hungary and Slovakia after a hiatus of nearly three months," the MOL statement said.
COUNTRIES DISPUTE WHO WAS TO BLAME FOR THE OUTAGE
Slovakia said it expected to receive 119,000 tons of oil through the pipeline by the end of April.
Ukraine had said the halt in oil flows was due to the need to repair the pipeline. Hungary and Slovakia accused Kyiv of dragging its feet.
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has maintained warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he welcomed the reopening of the pipeline but that he believed this proved that the blockage had been politically motivated.
"I believe that a serious relationship between Ukraine and the European Union was established yesterday and today through the agreements reached regarding the loan and the opening of the Druzhba pipeline," Fico told reporters on Thursday.
"I think that the opening of the Druzhba pipeline at 2 a.m. this morning confirms that the Druzhba pipeline was not damaged ... and the Druzhba pipeline and oil were used as tools in a geopolitical struggle."
There has been no external mission to check on the damage but the EU has backed Ukraine's account that it was hit by Russian forces.
Moscow has blamed Kyiv for stopping Russian oil flowing through the pipeline without directly addressing the allegation that it had been damaged during a Russian attack. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv to Fico's allegation.
Hungary and Slovakia continue to rely on Russian oil and gas and are trying to maintain supplies despite EU efforts to end Russian energy imports after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
($1 = 0.8543 euros)
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague and Krisztina Than in Budapest,Editing by David Goodman and Philippa Fletcher)
