Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said he will halt energy assistance to Ukraine if Kyiv does not restore oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline. This is his second such statement in the past week.
Key points of the statement
Fico made the announcement on social media on February 21.
“ If oil supplies to Slovakia are not resumed on Monday, I will ask SEPS, the state-owned joint-stock company, to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine,” he wrote.
He stressed that in January 2026, Ukraine required twice as much emergency electricity as during the whole of 2025. According to Fico, Volodymyr Zelenskyy “refuses to understand a peace-oriented approach ” and is allegedly acting maliciously toward the country.
Fico accused President Zelenskyy of treating Slovakia as a hostile state:
“First, he halted gas flows to Slovakia, causing us damages of €500 million per year. Now he has stopped oil flows, causing us further losses and logistical difficulties,” Fico wrote.
He added that Slovakia cannot view Slovak-Ukrainian relations as a one-way ticket benefiting only Ukraine. At the same time, he claimed that Western countries did not object to the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Fico emphasized that since the beginning of the war Slovakia has helped Ukraine more than some other states. He noted that around 180,000 Ukrainians are currently residing in Slovakia. The country continues to provide humanitarian aid and hold joint government meetings with Ukraine.
Earlier, Slovakia blocked a €90 billion loan approved by the EU for Ukraine.
“Given President Zelensky’s unacceptable behavior toward Slovakia, treating it as a hostile country, I consider it absolutely correct that I refused to involve the Slovak Republic in the latest €90 billion military loan for Ukraine,” Fico stated.
Previous statement
On February 18, Fico made a similar warning. He said he planned to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine if Kyiv did not resume operations of the Druzhba pipeline, through which Slovakia receives Russian oil.
Commenting on the matter on social media, he wrote:
“If Zelensky thinks that blackmailing Slovakia with oil will bring Ukraine closer to the EU, he is sadly mistaken.”
The Slovak prime minister also declared a state of emergency over the suspension of oil supplies. He said he had ordered the release of 250,000 tonnes of oil from emergency reserves.
Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that the European Commission had called on Ukraine to repair the Druzhba pipeline. The appeal followed Russian strikes that damaged the pipeline on January 27 in the Lviv region, halting the transit of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
