BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA – Three months after Russian oil deliveries through the key Druzhba pipeline were unexpectedly halted, supplies have finally resumed flowing to Slovakia, the country’s economy chief confirmed Thursday. The resumption of oil transit, which got underway at 2 a.m. local time, brings an end to a tense standoff that has rippled across European Union politics and strained ties between Kyiv and two of its neighboring EU states. The disruption, which began back in January, put Hungary and Slovakia at sharp odds with Ukraine, worsening an already fraught geopolitical environment on the continent. Unlike the vast majority of European Union member states that have drastically cut their reliance on Russian fossil fuels since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, both Central European nations have retained deep dependence on Russian crude for their domestic energy systems. When the cross-border pipeline crossing Ukrainian territory was shut down, the two governments quickly placed blame on Kyiv, accusing Ukrainian authorities of dragging their feet on repairs to the damaged section of infrastructure. The halt in deliveries triggered tangible political fallout across the bloc: Hungary moved to block a large-scale EU financial aid package designed to support Ukraine’s war effort, while Slovakia publicly refused to back a new round of proposed European sanctions targeting Moscow until pipeline operations returned to normal. After weeks of diplomatic wrangling and technical work, the flow of oil is once again moving along the strategic route, bringing a temporary resolution to a dispute that threatened to undermine EU unity on policy toward Russia.