Ukraine foreign ministry says ultimatums should be sent to the Kremlin, not Kyiv; explosions in the capital and western Ukrainian city of Lviv: What we know on day 1,460
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has condemned what it describes as “ultimatums and blackmail” by Hungary and Slovakia on Saturday, after both governments threatened to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv restarts flows of Russian oil. Hungary has also threatened to block a €90bn Ukrainian war loan.
Shipments of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia have been cut off since 27 January, when Kyiv says a Russian drone strike hit pipeline equipment in western Ukraine. Hungary and Slovakia both accuse Ukraine of delaying the restart, without evidence. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement the country “rejects and condemns the ultimatums and blackmail by the governments of Hungary and the Slovak Republic regarding energy supplies between our countries”. “Ultimatums should be sent to the Kremlin, and certainly not to Kyiv.”
Slovakia and Hungary are the only two EU countries that still rely on significant amounts of Russian oil shipped via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline over Ukraine. The issue has become one of the angriest disputes yet between Ukraine and two neighbours that are members of the EU and Nato but whose leaders have bucked the largely pro-Ukrainian consensus in Europe to cultivate ties with Moscow. The Slovak leader, Robert Fico, has accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy of acting “maliciously” towards his country.
