““Ukraine’s need to import electricity arose only because of Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhya NPP and the destruction of a significant part of Ukrainian thermal and hydro generation””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“It looks like Putin (President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin – ed.) instructed Fico to open a second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the interests of the people of Slovakia. Only this can mean Fico’s threats to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine in the winter in the face of Russian attacks on our power plants and distribution network,” he said.
The President emphasized that “Ukraine’s need for electricity imports arose only because of Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the destruction of a significant part of Ukrainian thermal and hydro generation.”
Zelenskyy added that thanks to the work of energy workers and cooperation with the EU, USA, Britain, Norway, Japan and other partners, the blackout in Ukraine was avoided.
The president stated that “Fico’s short-sighted policy left Slovakia without compensation for the loss of Russian gas, and now the country can lose at least $200 million annually that Ukraine pays for imported electricity.”
“Yes, the import of rescue electricity is not free, and it is a significant expense. Thirdly, it will be more profitable for everyone in Europe and, in particular, for the people of Slovakia to cooperate with neighbors and the EU in order to increase the supply of energy resources to Europe, in particular gas from America and other partners, and only this can reduce the price of energy for most families,” Zelenskyy wrote.
According to him, “Slovakia’s share in Ukraine’s electricity imports is 19%.” The government of Ukraine is working with its neighbors to maintain the necessary volume of supply.” Zelensky emphasized that “Slovakia is part of the single European energy market, and Fico must respect European rules.”
“Any arbitrary decisions in Bratislava or orders from Moscow to Fico regarding electricity will not lead to a halt in the import of electricity to Ukraine, but can definitely lead to a break between the current government of Slovakia and the European community,” the head of state added.
Earlier, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, said that his country will consider actions in response to Ukraine’s termination of transit of Russian gas from January 1.
In October, during a joint press conference with the head of the government of Slovakia, Robert Fico, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal already stated that Ukraine will not extend the agreement with Russia on the transit of energy carriers after its expiration.
The volume of Russian gas supplied to Europe through Ukraine is relatively small. In 2023, Russia delivered about 15 billion cubic meters of gas through Ukraine – just 8% of the peak flows of Russian gas to Europe via various routes in 2018-19.
Russia spent half a century building its share of the European gas market, which at its peak was 35%. But Moscow lost its share to rivals such as Norway, the United States and Qatar after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompting the EU to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.
The Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomari-Uzhgorod gas pipeline delivers gas from Siberia through the city of Suja, now under the control of the Ukrainian military, in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Then it goes through Ukraine to Slovakia.
In Slovakia, the gas pipeline branches into two routes to the Czech Republic and to Austria. Slovakia receives about 3 billion cubic meters from Gazprom per year, which is about two-thirds of its needs.
Russia has been attacking Ukrainian critical infrastructure facilities since the beginning of the invasion. According to the Ministry of Energy, since October 2022, Russia has carried out more than a thousand strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities, this year alone 9 GW of generating capacity was lost due to strikes.
Slovakia is one of the European countries from which Ukraine imports electricity.