Bloomberg News Agency: Poland ready to help Ukraine if Slovakia cuts off electricity supplies
Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing a senior Polish official, that Poland is prepared to increase its electricity exports to Ukraine if Slovakia’s Prime Minister Roberto Fico makes good on his threat and cuts off the country’s electricity supply.
According to the cited officials, Poland is ready to increase domestic electricity production to compensate for possible shortfalls in Ukraine’s energy system in the event of action by the Slovak authorities.
Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico on Friday threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine if Kiev implements its announcement and stops Russian gas shipments to the country after the new year. Ukraine has already announced that it does not intend to extend the contract to transport Russian gas to Europe, which expires on December 31st.
See also: Zelensky harshly criticizes Slovakia’s prime minister. “President Putin gave him orders.”
In response to threats from Slovakia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico of opening a “second energy front” against Ukraine on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.
Slovakia depends on Russian gas
As highlighted by Bloomberg, almost three years after Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine, Slovakia is still dependent on cheap gas supplies from Gazprom and has no access to Russia’s energy resources. Attempts to reduce the EU’s dependence on the EU are being thwarted.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since March, cutting the country’s power generation capacity by almost half and causing power outages.
See also: Zelenskyy commented on Fico and Putin’s meeting. “They’re afraid of the reaction.”
Therefore, in this situation, Ukraine is highly dependent on energy imports from the EU, including Slovakia.
Slovakia continues to receive Russian crude oil through the Druzhva pipeline, which passes through Ukraine. Kiev could cut off these supplies if Slovakia halts energy exports, another person familiar with the situation told Bloomberg on Saturday.
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