Reuters
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Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned “ultimatums and threats” by the Hungarian and Slovak governments, which threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine unless Kiev resumed Russian oil supplies.
Shipments of Russian crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia have been suspended since January 27, when Kiev announced that a Russian drone attack had damaged pipeline equipment in western Ukraine. Slovakia and Hungary hold Ukraine responsible for the prolonged power outage.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday that Kiev would cut off emergency power supplies to Ukraine within two days unless Kiev resumed Russian oil shipments to Slovakia over Ukrainian territory. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán made a similar threat a few days ago.
The issue is one of the most vexing disputes to date between Ukraine and its two neighbors, whose leaders are defying Europe’s largely pro-Ukrainian agreement to foster warm relations with Russia despite membership in the European Union and NATO.
Slovakia and Hungary are the only EU countries that still depend on large quantities of Russian crude oil, which is shipped over Ukraine via the Soviet-era Druzhva pipeline.
“Ukraine rejects and condemns the ultimatums and threats made by the governments of Hungary and the Slovak Republic regarding energy supplies between the two countries,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The ultimatum should be sent to the Kremlin, not Kiev.”
Hungary and Slovakia provide Ukraine with about half of Europe’s emergency electricity exports, and Kiev is increasingly reliant on electricity as Russian attacks damage its power grid.
“If oil supplies to Slovakia are not resumed on Monday, I will ask the state corporation SEPS to cut off emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine,” Fico said in a post on X.
Kiev said such actions were “provocative and irresponsible and threaten the energy security of the entire region.”
Throughout the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion, which marks its fourth anniversary on Tuesday, Ukraine has allowed its territory to be used for Russia’s energy exports to Europe, which have been severely curtailed but not stopped.
Ukraine is proposing an alternative shipping route to transport oil to Europe while emergency repair work is carried out on the pipeline. In a letter seen by Reuters, Ukraine’s mission to the EU proposed transporting the oil through Ukraine’s oil transportation system or sea routes, which could include the Odessa-Brody pipeline, which would connect Ukraine’s main Black Sea port to the EU.
Since October last year, Russia has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy systems, cutting off electricity and heat and leaving millions of Ukrainians without long-term power outages during frigid winter temperatures.
