“President Putin seems to have ordered Fico to open a second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the interests of the Slovak people,” President Zelenskiy wrote to X. “We are threatening to cut off Ukraine's emergency power supply this winter while Russia attacks our power plants,” the president added, “and the energy grid can only be explained in this way.”
Ukrainian leaders say the reason Ukraine now has to import electricity is because Russia occupied the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and deliberately used “Shahed” missiles and drones to destroy Ukraine's thermal and hydropower plants. He recalled that this was because most of the place had been destroyed.
See also: Robert Fico received a mysterious envelope. Contents that caused the alarm
He stressed that the power outage in Ukraine was avoided only thanks to “the heroic efforts of our energy sector workers and the life-saving cooperation with the EU, US, UK, Norway, Japan and other partners.” . “And now Mr. Fico is dragging Slovakia into Russia's attempts to cause further suffering to Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy believes.
Volodymyr Zelensky appeals to Robert Fik
Therefore, the President of Ukraine decided to remind him of three things. “Firstly, supporting Russian aggression is completely immoral. Second, FICO's short-sighted policies have already deprived Slovaks of compensation for the loss of Russian gas shipments. Now threatens to deprive Slovaks of the $200 million a year that Ukraine pays for imports. “Yes, this important import is not free, but its costs are significant,'' he says.
“Thirdly, it would be much more beneficial for everyone in Europe, including Slovak citizens, to cooperate with neighboring countries and the EU to increase the supply of European energy resources, including gas from America and other partners. “I think that is the case,” he said.
See also: Fico threatened journalists. “Announcing North Korea-like censorship”
As he emphasized, this is the only way for most households to reduce their energy bills. “Slovakia's share in electricity imports to Ukraine is about 19%. The Ukrainian government is cooperating with its EU neighbors to maintain the necessary electricity supply,” he explained.
Zelenskiy recalled that Slovakia is part of Europe's single energy market and FICO must follow common European rules. “Arbitrary decisions in Bratislava and orders from Moscow to Fico regarding electricity cannot cut off energy supplies to Ukraine, but they will certainly sever the current Slovak authorities' ties with the European Community,” he said. ” concluded.
Controversial Kremlin visit
Let us recall that Robert Fico appeared in Moscow on Sunday and met with Vladimir Putin for the first time since 2016. The two leaders were scheduled to discuss Russian gas supplies. Andrzej Szyina, Deputy Director-General of Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commented on the controversial visit during the “Guest of Events” program.
“Hungarian and Slovak policies towards Russia have been clear for a long time,” he said. As for Poland's southern neighbor, he added, it is the result of “total dependence on raw materials: gas and oil.” “This means that this gas will not flow through Ukraine,” he said, adding that Kiev had done the right thing.
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