Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Slovakia is ready to suspend electricity supplies to Ukraine from 23 February if Kiev does not resume oil transit through the Druzhba oil pipeline. This follows from his public statement in which he directly responded to the interrupted energy flows between the two countries.
„Slovakia is a proud and sovereign country and I am a proud and sovereign Slovak. If oil supplies to Slovakia do not resume on Monday, I will ask SEPS to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine,“ Fico said on Facebook.
According to the Slovak Prime Minister, energy assistance to Ukraine has reached an extraordinary scale. „In January 2026, twice as much electricity was needed to stabilize the Ukrainian power system than in the whole of 2025,“ he said. Bratislava is thus indicating that the current model of cooperation is unsustainable in the long term if strategic oil supplies are reduced at the same time.
Fico also criticised the wider geopolitical situation. „Unless the West protests against the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, Slovakia cannot see Slovak-Ukrainian relations as a one-way ticket that benefits only Ukraine,“ he said. He added that the interruption of gas supplies alone had caused Slovakia some €500 million in damage, while the halt in oil transit had brought even greater economic and logistical complications.
Tensions between the two countries intensified after Ukrtransnafta banned oil supplies to Slovakia and Hungary, according to industry sources. Although the emergency situation at the Brody station was removed in early February, oil shipments have not yet resumed.
Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjártó accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of blocking supplies for political reasons and to make things more difficult for the Hungarian government ahead of parliamentary elections.
The European Commission has also weighed in on the development, saying that Slovakia and Hungary have stopped oil supplies to Ukraine. At the same time, Hungary blocked the approval of €90 billion in European financial aid to Kiev on 20 February.
Fico concluded by stressing the political dimension of the dispute: „Given President Zelensky's unacceptable attitude towards Slovakia as a hostile country, I consider it right not to involve the Slovak Republic in the €90 billion military loan to Ukraine.“
According to analysts, the energy conflict is growing into a broader political dispute that could affect not only the stability of the Ukrainian energy sector but also relations within the European Union.
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