Photo: Getty Images
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he may initiate a halt to emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine if oil deliveries to Slovakia are not restored.
He wrote about this on social media platform X.
According to Fico, if oil supplies are not resumed by Monday, he will ask Slovak energy companies to stop emergency electricity exports to Ukraine.
Fico stated that Slovakia has been helping Ukraine since the start of the war by hosting around 180,000 Ukrainians and providing humanitarian assistance. At the same time, he accused the Ukrainian side of disrupting energy supplies.
“First, he (Zelenskyy — ed.) stopped gas supplies to Slovakia, which caused us losses of €500 million per year. Now he has stopped oil supplies, which has created additional losses and logistical difficulties,” Fico said.
He also noted that he refused to support a new military loan for Ukraine, citing the position of his country.
How critical this could be for Ukraine
Earlier, energy market analyst Daria Orlova from ExPro Consulting told RBC-Ukraine that Slovakia accounts for about 18% of Ukraine’s electricity imports, while Hungary provides around 45%.
According to her, Hungary and Slovakia together supply roughly 70% of Ukraine’s electricity imports in February, which represents a significant volume — more than 1.4 GW of additional capacity.
At the same time, the analyst stressed that Ukraine could partially redistribute imports through other directions, although fully replacing them would be difficult. She also suggested that the statements from the Slovak side are currently more political in nature.
Can the supplies actually be stopped
Orlova noted that operators of EU power systems do not make such decisions independently, as their operations are coordinated within the European electricity network ENTSO-E.
Druzhba oil pipeline
Transit of Russian oil through Ukraine to Slovakia and Hungary stopped at the end of January after Russia struck a pumping station on the Druzhba pipeline. As a result, Ukraine had to suspend oil transportation to refineries in those countries.
To secure supplies, Slovakia and Hungary began using strategic reserves and asked Croatia to organize deliveries through its port and pipeline system. Zagreb agreed to help, but without transporting Russian oil.
On February 18, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Budapest was suspending diesel supplies to Ukraine until Russian oil transit resumes. The Slovak government supported this position.
Experts from Ukraine’s fuel market, Serhii Kuyun and Oleksandr Sirenko, noted that Hungarian and Slovak diesel accounts for up to 10% of the Ukrainian market, meaning potential losses could be compensated through supplies from other directions.
On February 18, the Slovak government also raised the possibility of halting electricity exports to Ukraine if the oil pipeline is not restored. A day later, the publication About Hungary reported that Budapest was considering additional restrictions, including stopping supplies of not only diesel but also electricity and gas to Ukraine.
