President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to threats by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to limit aid to Ukrainians and cut off electricity supplies.
According to him, Ukraine offered Slovakia assistance during the period of adaptation to the lack of gas transit from Russia, but “Fico arrogantly refused”. Zelensky added that now the Slovak prime minister “is trying to shift the blame from himself to someone else through PR, lies, and loud accusations”.
"It was an obvious mistake for Fico to hope that his shadowy schemes with Moscow would exist indefinitely... But the problem is precisely that he bet on Moscow, not on his country, not on a united Europe, and not on common sense. This was his losing bet from the beginning," the Ukrainian president said.
And he expressed hope that diversifying sources of energy supplies to Europe, cooperation with the European Commission, and the implementation of the US President-elect Donald Trumpʼs plan to increase supplies of American gas to the continent "will help overcome the problems that arise due to the short-sightedness of individual European figures".
Russian gas supplies to Slovakia
The agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the export of Russian gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory expired on January 1, 2025. Therefore, Slovakia and other EU countries are starting to look for alternative sources, but Robert Fico wants Ukraine to either restore supplies or compensate for losses, which the Slovak Prime Minister estimates at €500 million per year.
Russia said it was ready to continue supplying gas through Ukraine, but because of the war, Ukraine refused to participate in negotiations with Russia on gas exports through its territories.
Slovakian company SPP said it has diversified gas purchase contracts with BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Eni and RWE and has up to 150% of its customersʼ consumption available as a safety cushion. SPP said Slovakia has also diversified transit supply routes in case transit via the pipeline through Ukraine is disrupted.
Slovakia and Hungary have also had problems with Russian oil supplies this year. Babel reported on this in detail here.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.