Ukraine's oil and gas giant to build storage sites in Hungary amid fears of Russian winter strikes
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Ukraine's Naftogaz Group signed a memorandum with the Hungarian energy company Mol on building oil products storage facilities in Hungary, said Naftogaz's acting head Serhii Fedorenko on Sept. 20.
The news comes as Ukraine braces for a new wave of Russian drone and missile attacks against the country's energy infrastructure over the winter months.
"Amid ongoing Russian attacks on our fuel infrastructure, diversifying supply routes and creating additional storage capacity outside the areas facing attacks is a matter of stability for the entire market," Fedorenko said on Facebook.
The facilities are expected to be built near the Ukrainian border and serve Ukraine's needs, while also strengthening mutually beneficial cross-border energy infrastructure, Fedorenko added.
The memorandum was signed during the first Carpathian 8 Summit in Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, a new forum for economic cooperation among countries in the Carpathian region.
The relations between Ukraine and its EU neighbor, Hungary, have seen a partial thaw since Hungary's pro-European Prime Minister Peter Magyar took office in May, replacing Kremlin-friendly Viktor Orban.
While Magyar has ruled out providing military aid to Ukraine or accelerating Kyiv's EU accession bid, he has signaled interest in resetting mutual ties and pursuing a more constructive relationship with Hungary's war-torn neighbor.
