Ukraine and its EU neighbours Hungary and Slovakia are locked in a bitter energy dispute, with both threatening to suspend emergency electricity exports unless Kyiv restores Russian oil transit.
The standoff erupted after a Russian drone attack on 27 January crippled the Druzhba pipeline in western Ukraine, blocking crude flows to refineries in the two landlocked nations, which accuse Kyiv of deliberate delays.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico upped the ante on Saturday, warning of power cuts within two days.
“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,” Fico posted on X. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán issued a similar ultimatum earlier, decrying Ukraine’s stance.
The duo, exempt from the EU’s Russian oil ban, supplies nearly half of Europe’s urgent power to Ukraine—vital amid Russian strikes ravaging its grid since October, sparking mass winter blackouts.
“Ukraine rejects and condemns the ultimatums and blackmail by the governments of Hungary and the Slovak Republic regarding energy supplies between our countries,” Kyiv’s Foreign Ministry retorted. “Ultimatums should be sent to the Kremlin, and certainly not to Kyiv.”
Ukraine has proposed alternatives like the Odesa-Brody pipeline or sea routes during repairs, exposing rifts in EU unity as the invasion nears its fourth anniversary.