Crude deliveries to Central Europe were briefly interrupted after Ukraine said it struck the Nikolskoye pumping station on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline in the early hours of 18 Aug. The attack, confirmed by Kyiv’s General Staff, halted flows of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia—two European Union members that still rely heavily on the Soviet-era conduit for most of their supply. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the stoppage did not disrupt domestic fuel production, a point echoed by Hungarian refiner MOL. In Bratislava, Economy Minister Denisa Sakova described the impact on Slovakia as minimal but said the government was monitoring the situation given the pipeline’s importance to regional energy security. Repairs were completed within two days. Szijjarto announced on 20 Aug that shipments had resumed and thanked Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin for what he called a swift restoration of service. Sakova said flows to Slovakia were now “standard,” though officials in both capitals cautioned that future supply schedules could still be adjusted. The pipeline strike is part of Kyiv’s broader campaign to degrade Russian energy infrastructure that funds Moscow’s war effort. In a parallel escalation, Ukraine reported that more than 20 Russian Shahed-type drones hit fuel and port facilities in the Odesa region overnight on 20 Aug, triggering a large fire at the Izmail oil depot. The duelling attacks underline the growing focus on energy targets as the conflict intensifies.