Slovakian premier orders stop to emergency power deliveries to Ukraine over Druzhba pipeline dispute

By Melike Pala

BRUSSELS (AA) - Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on Monday ordered a halt to emergency electricity deliveries to Ukraine over a dispute involving the Druzhba oil pipeline, which supplies crude oil to Slovakia and Hungary.

Fico said on the US social media company X’s platform that he had fulfilled a warning issued Saturday that if oil deliveries through the pipeline were not restored by Monday, Slovakia's state transmission company SEPS would stop emergency electricity support to Ukraine.

"In January 2026 alone, these emergency deliveries needed to stabilize the Ukrainian energy grid were twice as high as for the entire year 2025," he wrote.

The Druzhba pipeline, a key transit route for Russian oil, was disrupted following a Jan. 27 incident that Kyiv has blamed on Russian drone attacks. Hungarian and Slovakian officials, however, have accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the pipeline's restart to gain political leverage.

After shipments via the pipeline were halted, Hungary and Slovakia decided to suspend diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine in response.