Ukraine accuses Hungary, Slovakia of 'blackmail' over threats to cut electricity

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Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as “ultimatums and blackmail” by the governments of Hungary and Slovakia on Saturday, after they threatened to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv restarts flows of Russian oil.

Shipments of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia have been cut off since January 27, when Kyiv says a Russian drone strike hit pipeline equipment in Western Ukraine. Slovakia and Hungary say Ukraine is to blame for the prolonged outage.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday that he would cut off emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine within two days unless Kyiv resumes Russian oil transit to Slovakia over Ukraine’s territory. Hungary’s Viktor Orban made a similar threat days earlier.

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 warm ties with Moscow.