Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
The president’s office announced the call on Friday, February 27, on its Telegram channel, adding: “The president invites him to Ukraine to discuss all current issues.”
Deliveries of Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary via the “Druzhba” pipeline have been suspended since January 27.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha earlier said the halt followed Hungary’s failure to disclose a Russian strike on a section of the pipeline inside Ukrainian territory.
Kyiv says pumping stations in western Ukraine were damaged in a Russian attack. Budapest, in turn, says the Ukrainian side cut power to that section of the pipeline.
On February 15, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of exports.
Reuters reported on February 27 that the pipeline halt has blocked not only Russian flows but also exports of Ukrainian crude. Three sources told the agency that Kyiv had previously used the pipeline to ship crude to the European Union.
The stoppage deprives Ukraine of revenues needed to cover its budget deficit and could force Kyiv to halt its own oil production, Reuters said. According to the agency, Ukraine’s refining capacity has been largely destroyed by Russian attacks, leaving Kyiv reliant on exports.
One source said Ukraine previously pumped about 40,000 tons of crude each month into Brody in Lviv region, western Ukraine. The crude was then processed at refineries of Hungary’s MOL energy group.
Ukraine’s energy ministry, MOL, and officials in Budapest and Bratislava have not commented.
In mid-February, Slovakia’s government declared a “state of emergency in the oil sector” over the Druzhba shutdown.
The state will release up to 250,000 tons of oil from strategic reserves to Slovnaft’s Bratislava refinery, the country’s largest. In return, the company must provide financial collateral or bank guarantees equal to its book value, and it must return the oil by September.
Fico has threatened to cut electricity supplies to Kyiv over the suspension of Druzhba transit.
Hungary has blocked a 90 billion euro aid package for Ukraine and a new round of sanctions on Russia that had been slated for approval by the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
