Oil deliveries to Slovakia were halted at the end of January after a Russian strike damaged the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline. Slovak authorities say the infrastructure has been repaired, but Kyiv has delayed resuming transit for political reasons.
On February 20, Slovakia’s economy ministry reported that Ukraine again postponed the pipeline restart, this time to Tuesday, February 24.
Fico, however, expects oil to flow a day earlier. “If on Monday, February 23, the Ukrainian president does not resume deliveries, I will ask Slovak companies to halt emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine on the same day,” he wrote on social media. He added that Slovakia supplied Ukraine with twice as much electricity in January alone than in all of 2025.
The Slovak leader accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of acting against Slovakia’s interests, noting that Bratislava does not support the war.
Fico said the current situation justifies Hungary’s earlier refusal to back the EUR 90 billion EU loan package for Ukraine, highlighting growing tensions within the EU over energy and financial support for Kyiv.
This follows Hungary’s earlier threat, where Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó demanded the resumption of Druzhba pipeline deliveries before agreeing to EU aid, after Russian crude to Hungary stopped flowing on January 27.
Hungary’s request to reroute oil via Croatia was rejected, with Zagreb insisting EU support is acceptable, but Russian oil is not.
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Source: IAR