Fico threatened Kyiv to stop electricity supplies 0 10

Slovakia may stop electricity supplies to Ukraine from February 23 if Kyiv does not resume oil supplies to the country. This was stated by the country's Prime Minister Robert Fico on his page on the social network X on Saturday, February 21. The issue concerns fuel supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, which were interrupted on January 27.

"If the President of Ukraine does not resume oil supplies to Slovakia on Monday, on the same day I will ask the relevant Slovak companies to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine. <...> Only in January 2026, these emergency supplies, necessary to stabilize the Ukrainian energy system, were needed twice as much as for the entire year of 2025," Fico wrote.

The Prime Minister of Slovakia also accused Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky of "unacceptable behavior" towards his country. "First, he stopped gas supplies to Slovakia, causing us damage of 500 million euros a year. Now he has stopped oil supplies, causing us further losses and creating logistical difficulties," Fico noted.

Hungary announced the suspension of diesel supplies to Ukraine

On February 18, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated that the country is suspending diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine until "the transit of oil to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline is restored."

According to the minister, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky decided not to resume oil transit "for political reasons, deliberately putting Hungary's energy supply at risk." At the same time, Budapest plays an important role in ensuring Ukraine's energy security, Szijjarto added, specifying that most of the gas, electricity, and diesel fuel imports to Ukraine come from Hungary or through it.

Supplies via Druzhba ceased at the end of January

On February 12, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga reported that supplies via Druzhba ceased after January 27 due to a Russian airstrike on a section of the pipeline passing through his country.

Against the backdrop of the cessation of supplies, the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL on February 16 appealed to the country's Ministry of Energy for about 250,000 tons of oil from strategic reserves. On February 18, the Slovak government declared a "state of emergency in the oil industry." Authorities allocated 250,000 tons of oil to the largest local oil refinery (refinery) Slovnaft (most of which is owned by MOL), and the enterprise announced the cessation of diesel fuel supplies abroad, including to Ukraine, to meet domestic market needs.

On February 20, the Ukrainian publication "European Truth" reported that Kyiv proposed to the European Commission to use other oil pipeline infrastructure of the country for oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia. "In particular, such logistics could be organized either through the oil pipeline system of Ukraine or by sea with subsequent transshipment in seaports and transportation via the Odessa-Brody pipeline further into European Union member states," the publication quotes from a letter sent to the European Commission.